Gungnir
by Ryvaken Lucius Tadrya
Summary: A young prankster opens a scroll of forbidden techniques in search of a second chance. What he finds alters his life forever, and will entangle his entire world in something greater than he knows. A Naruto/Nanoha crossover. Indefinite hiatus.
1. Get Set

Chapter 1: Get Set  
by Ryvaken Lucius Tadrya

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was not a happy academy student.

Mostly because he was _still_ an academy student. He had failed his genin test. Being a ninja, becoming Hokage, and his dream of being acknowledged seemed further away than ever. So he wallowed in his memory, watching his classmates' parents pretend he didn't exist. Somehow he didn't think a prank would make him feel better. Not this time.

Well, there was an exception. Mizuki, one of Naruto's teachers, was coming towards him with a sympathetic smile. Naruto didn't like Mizuki as much as Iruka, but he could count the number of people that bothered to smile at him on one hand. Even that weird girl, Hinata, never smiled at him. But it would take more than one smile to lift Naruto's spirits. "Hey, Naruto," Mizuki said. "Tough break with the bunshin. But you know, the official test isn't the only way to become a genin."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Really!" Well, **that** could break even Sasuke's funk!

Mizuki led Naruto away, going over the plan to steal the scroll…but didn't notice that lavender eyes were on his back.

Hinata sighed. As expected, her father didn't find her graduation worthy of more than a firm nod and left her alone quickly. She was Hyuuga. She would pass. There had never been any question of that, even from her. Left alone while other children were given such praise, she secretly turned her attention to her kindred spirit. Naruto Uzumaki was so like her. They were both friendless, without anyone to encourage them. But while she had a huge family pressuring her to succeed, Naruto had only his own determination pushing him forward. His enthusiasm and confidence were addictive, and Hinata marveled at the strength of character it took to keep pushing forward. She herself would have curled up in a ball and never moved had her family not pushed her. It wasn't the kind of pushing she saw in their classmates, what Kurenai-sensei called the 'carrot and stick' approach. She got all 'stick' all the time. But somehow, looking at Naruto's back as she was pushed in his wake made the journey easier. Although if anyone ever found out she thought of it like that she'd die of embarrassment and her family would disown her corpse!

Hinata's quiet introspection was destroyed when Mizuki approached Naruto. She knew her crush liked Mizuki, but she had watched them both from a distance. Mizuki's smile was like her own. When no one could see, Hinata would smile at Naruto. And at the same times, Mizuki would scowl. The ugly expression fit his face too well. Whatever plan he was sharing with Naruto, Hinata hoped he was playing the part of a caring teacher, but it was so much more likely that this secret test would be the end of Mizuki's lie, and Naruto would pay the price.

Hinata had a brief image of being pushed in life as genin without Naruto to blaze the trail ahead of her. A resolve she only rarely knew settled in her and made her path so very clear. _Over my dead body!_ she swore to herself. The only path she would walk would lead to Naruto, should it cost her her life or her family, it did not matter. And as she was so fond of saying to herself, she wouldn't go back on that promise. That was her Way of the Ninja!

* * *

Naruto felt like laughing, but held himself back with practiced ease. Mizuki was right, this was a challenge! Stealing this scroll of techniques pushed his academy skills past their limit; henge to pass guards and kawarimi to make an escape. Without bunshin to make a diversion he would need to be unusually stealthy, though.

People often asked how a loud, brightly-clad boy could possibly be stealthy. These same people would wake up in the morning to find their houses and occasionally faces covered in graffiti, without a single witness to testify against the obvious culprit. Naruto never claimed to be _subtle_, but the one area he truly was better than Sasuke was not being seen until he wanted to be.

But he never noticed the only one in class better than him. Hinata watched Naruto's progress. She thought about using a henge to be a fake bunshin of him to help, but this was supposedly a test. If Mizuki wasn't lying, if this really was Naruto's last shot to become a ninja, she might disqualify him by interfering. She shook her head; she couldn't risk that. She'd watch, nothing more. If Mizuki turned out to be up to something, then she'd act.

While she was a freshly minted kunoichi, Hinata was not the expert in stealth that Naruto was. As she was keeping a Byakugan eye on Naruto, she herself was being watched from the shadows. Kurenai Yuhi, the newest jonin in Konoha, watched the girl carefully. She had long cared for the Hyuuga's uncertain princess, but could think of no reason why she would be studying the Hokage's tower so carefully.

The guards of the tower glanced at eachother. The arrival of Hinata was unexpected, and why was she being watched by a jonin? The guards signaled eachother with handsigns. What was Kurenai doing? Should Hinata be taken into custody? Should they just ignore it? The subtle debate rolled through the ranks of the guards for several minutes as they watched the apparently motionless kunoichi.

Then one of them finally noticed that the seal had been broken on the door he was supposed to have been guarding.

Hinata twitched in surprise as the alarm went out over the village. Lights were coming on, people were yelling about Naruto stealing the scroll. They sounded angry, surprised. It...it didn't sound like a test. Hinata sighed. The problem with living in a village of ninja was that they were all really good at acting. If this _was _a secret test, then it wouldn't look like a test, right? It wasn't yet time to act. She went after Naruto.

Kurenai's eyes widened. If the tower had been robbed, she had more important duties than Hinata! She ran out of the shadows and leapt for the tower. "What happened?" she yelled to the guards. They looked at her and then quickly looked away in embarassment. That...wasn't a good sign. Someone had done something _very_ stupid this night.

Elsewhere in Konoha, Mizuki was impressed despite himself. He knew the fox brat was good at this, but he had at least a full minute of a head start above Mizuki's expectation. At this rate, he could take his time killing the boy and switching the scroll with a properly Narutoish fake.

* * *

Naruto sat in a clearing and opened the scroll eagerly. A lot of it didn't make sense, but Mizuki said he only needed to learn one of the techniques. He just needed to find one with only a few handseals, something so awesome that not being able to do bunshin wouldn't matter.

Well, that first one was…really simple! One handseal, and only two fingers? A whole bunch of boring stuff about chakra use, and it was even a kind of clone! And the next…and the next…Naruto grinned. These were all kinda simple, you just needed to give it your all to pull them off. No one gave their all like Naruto Uzumaki!

"Well, you did better than I thought, fox brat," Mizuki said, walking out of the trees.

Naruto looked up with a grin. "I can do this! Thanks, Mizuki-sensei!"

Mizuki laughed. "You? Do a jutsu off that scroll? Fool! That is a scroll of techniques the Shodai Hokage declared too dangerous to use! A failure of a demon like you couldn't even grasp what they do!"

"What?" Naruto asked, shaking. He knew this script. Others had called him failure and demon. They sneered and turned their backs, never called him by name. "I'm Naruto!" he yelled. "I have a name! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Why are you calling me a demon, too?"

"You," Mizuki sneered, "are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. I have no idea why the Yondaime didn't just kill you, but I won't make the same mistake. Goodbye, Fox!" He pulled back his shuriken and…felt blinding pain in his lower back.

This was no test. Hinata ran around Mizuki, but her second palm strike never hit the chunin. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully, causing her to cry out in pain. Mizuki stared in shock and fury. "What? What are you doing here?"

"Naruto isn't like that," Hinata said angrily. Her soft voice carried a bite to it that would have filled her father with something like pride. The adrenaline was surging through her, the fear of death...for one, brief moment all those fears of a little girl seemed so small, like she could just step over them and put them behind her, at least for a moment. A moment of clarity. "Naruto...is my friend."

Mizuki glared at Hinata. "Isn't that cute. You have a crush on the demon." Hinata's composure deteriorated into mortification. Her fears came rushing back at her, and she responded with all the maturity and emotional control of a twelve year old girl. Which is to say, she blushed, squeaked, and lost all sense of equilibrium.

Mizuki tossed her at Naruto, and the proclaimed demon did his best to catch her. The two children collapsed in a heap, Hinata on top of Naruto, but her head hit the ground hard enough that Naruto could hear it. She moaned, trying to make sense of what her eyes and ears were telling her. Between the emotional and physical trauma she was experiencing, she was hard pressed to tell up from down.

Mizuki ground his teeth and raised his weapon again, not triumphantly as before but in rage. "You silly girl, you've ruined everything! Hiashi won't accept that Naruto could kill even a failure like you if I seriously tried to stop him. He'll make sure I never make jonin. Now I have to go missing-nin just to survive!"

"You'd betray Konoha?" Naruto yelled.

Mizuki laughed again. "Such loyalty for a village you nearly destroyed," he jeered.

"That's how we taught him," Iruka said, appearing between Mizuki and the children. "But I guess you needed to take that class yourself."

Mizuki snorted out his frustration. Plan A was a complete bust already. Plan B had always been kill everything in sight and run. Iruka just made it more interesting. "Well, no reason not to kill you too, Iruka. Maybe you can keep teaching these failures in the afterlife!"

Naruto's head was swimming. His favorite teachers were paired off and fighting to the death. Hinata was sprawled over him in a daze. He had learned jutsu he shouldn't be able to do. Hinata had tried to protect him. He had some connection to the Kyuubi. Hinata had defended his character, his good nature. He didn't know what all that meant, but one thing was clear enough. Mizuki needed to pay.

Iruka went down, wounded but not critically. Naruto pushed Hinata off him gently. "Hinata. Whatever happens, he doesn't get this scroll," he said, pushing it into her hands. Hinata clutched the scroll and nodded dazedly. He stood up.

Mizuki sneered. "You think you can take me, fox?"

Naruto crossed a finger on each hand. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be the Hokage and make everyone acknowledge me! And I'm starting with you! Taju kage bunshin no jutsu!" Chakra flooded Naruto's body for a moment and he pushed it into the form required. It flowed, a torrent of power held and contained by the solid mold he envisioned. One copy. Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen. Soon he couldn't count the number of copies he felt his chakra make and triggered the jutsu. The air filled with opaque white smoke…and then there were a lot of him. Hundreds. Maybe thousands.

Mizuki twitched. "This isn't possible," he whispered.

"This is my way of the ninja!" Naruto roared, one voice from innumerable throats. He charged Mizuki from all directions, and to his credit the chunin may have beaten half of him, but numbers told the tale. In moments, ten Narutos had Mizuki pinned to the ground.

The real Naruto made his way to Iruka. "Sensei?" he asked worriedly.

Iruka smiled. "Naruto. Do me a favor?" Naruto nodded, guileless worry etched on his face. "Take off my headband."

"Okay," Naruto said. He undid the knot and pulled the metal protector away. "It doesn't look like you're hurt."

"I'm not," Iruka said, smiling through the blood on his lips. "At least not there. Take a look at your hand, Naruto." Naruto looked at his hands, clutching Iruka's headband. "That's yours, now," Iruka explained.

Naruto took a moment to process that. "You mean?"

Iruka nodded. "You're a ninja, Naruto."

"NO!" Mizuki yelled, hurling off the clones on him in a fit of rage. "Not him! He doesn't win this! I win! I risked everything! It should be me that climbs higher!"

Naruto quickly tied the protector around his head and faced Mizuki. "I won't let you hurt him!"

Mizuki spun on Hinata. "Then I'll kill her!"

Hinata's world slowed down. Mizuki rushed her. Naruto got between them, making a handsign she had never seen before. Iruka yelled something. Then the world turned to cranberry-cinnamon flavored ramen.

* * *

"No, Naruto!" Iruka yelled. "Not that jutsu!"

But it was too late. In a flash of blinding light, Naruto, Hinata, and the scroll were gone. A circle of bare earth, half a meter in radius, was the only sign left.

Mizuki stared at the patch of dirt. He gave a weak laugh. Then another. And another. Then he was laughing uncontrollably, tears running down his face. "Nothing!" he howled. "I did it all for nothing!" He was like that when the ANBU came, and the last Iruka ever saw him, Mizuki was simply a man who had gambled everything he had and lost so completely that his mind broke.

Minutes later, Iruka was mostly bandaged up. Sarutobi himself had come to inspect the last spot Naruto had been seen. "Will he ever return, Hokage?" he asked.

Sarutobi shook his head slowly. "He activated the original time-space jutsu invented by the Yondaime. I would never have believed even Naruto to have that much chakra."

"I thought the scroll was scribed by the Shodai Hokage," Iruka said, confused.

"The core of it," Sarutobi agreed. "But each Hokage has added something to it. Jutsu that were too dangerous for ordinary ninjas' chakra coils to handle. But back to your question. The Yondaime theorized that with enough chakra, he could jump to an utterly unreachable place. But he'd never be certain of coming back. Or that he would survive the journey."

Iruka felt his throat tighten. Ninja died all the time, but this was different. Naruto and Hinata had been mere students only yesterday. "I passed Naruto," he said. "He was a genin when he...left."

Sarutobi smiled sadly. "I'll make sure it's entered into his record."

Whatever Iruka planned to say to that was interrupted by a spark of light. He turned and frowned. There, on the bare patch of dirt, was a glowing mote of orange light. As he stared at it, the mote expanded, unfolded, and became a diagram of some kind of fuuinjutsu. The base pattern was a circle with a seven pointed star inside, some unfamiliar script, all in constant motion as different parts rotated about their own axises. He estimated its final size as only a few feet across. "Uhm, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi was among the most knowledgeable men in the elemental countries. In the topics of chakra and jutsu, there was little he did not know. "I don't know," he said gruffly.

When the one circle was joined by two more, the ANBU bodyguards came out of hiding and interposed themselves between the strange jutsu and the Hokage.

Iruka hobbled backwards. The new circles were identical to the first, save one was a pale lavender and the other a pleasing crimson. "They don't feel like chakra," he suggested.

"No they don't," a ferret-masked ANBU agreed. "I don't find that comforting."

"Wise," Sarutobi muttered. "Fascinating...is something coming out of them?"

The ANBU tensed. Storage seals could contain just about anything if they were this big. If some village had found a way to create seals at a distance, the circles could be a prelude to an attack. Or, worse, they could even be the attack itself.

The circles glowed brightly and shot columns of light into the sky. Shapes appeared inside the cylinders of power, human shapes. A boy and girl with staves, and another girl with a strange bow in her hair and a sack over her hip. The ANBU readied weapons.

The orange column spoke. "Hey, old man. Miss us?"

Sarutobi felt his pipe try to leave his mouth in shock. "Naruto?" The light faded and Sarutobi found himself looking at...he wasn't entirely sure. Naruto, Hinata...and Naruto?

Naruto was taller, older by a year at least. He had a cocky grin that was enough to dispel any doubts about his identity, and his orange, blue, and white outfit was also familiar. However, the colors were muted, the white almost grey, and he looked as if he could fade into shadows far more easily than he could have in his previous outfit. Iruka's headband was firm around his brow, clean but unpolished, with the telltale signs of age despite care, rather than slavish devotion to cleanliness. He carried a black staff with a round orange jewel set in a triangular headpiece.

Hinata was as old as Naruto and had grown her hair several inches. While her outfit was largely the same as it had been, either she had hit a growth spurt or she had chosen a more daring outfit. Daring compared to her former, overly bulky coat that is; she was still one of the most conservatively dressed kunoichi in Konoha. She carried a green staff, the same shade as one of Konoha's flak jackets, with a large opal set about two thirds up the staff.

The third individual was almost beyond description. She looked like Naruto's "sexy jutsu" henge, but had large, red-furred ears and tail suggestive of a fox. The girl wore shorts that barely came to her mid-thighs and a halter that left a great deal of skin showing above and below her bust. She did not have a headband, but rather a collar with a green metal tag in the shape of the Konoha leaf design.

Naruto grinned a bit wider. "Who else dattebayo?"

Sarutobi waved at the ANBU and their weapons vanished in a professional display of synchronized obedience. "What happened?"

"How long have we been gone?" Hinata asked.

"Maybe half an hour," Iruka said numbly. "We thought you were dead."

"Half an hour?" Naruto asked. He looked to his staff. "Good work."

[Thank you, boss.]

If Sarutobi was surprised by the staff's mechanical monotone, he didn't show it. "Your report?" he repeated. There was a time to be kind and grandfatherly and a time remind everyone who was in charge. This wasn't a grandfather moment. Something very strange had happened here, and he needed answers while there was still a chance of keeping the situation contained. Maybe they could just bury the incident and pretend it never happened. Wouldn't be the first time they'd covered something up. It wasn't even the first time that week.

"We were teleported to another world a year and a half ago," Naruto started.

So much for that idea. "Nevermind," he said gruffly, "this is all secret as of now." That was too much to bury reliably. Sarutobi switched to damage control. Mizuki's testimony needed to be handled carefully and if anything he needed more answers faster. "Iruka, go to the hospital. Ferret, make sure Mizuki's interrogation is handled by Ibiki. Badger, I want the strongest tea we have in my office in the next five minutes. As for you three, Naruto, Hinata, and...?"

"Naruko," the fox-girl supplied.

Sarutobi blinked and decided that he was going to need to put some stronger stuff in his pipe to go with that tea. "You three in my office, now. You're going to tell me everything."


	2. Stand By, Ready

Chapter 2: Stand By, Ready

Naruto and Hinata disarmed without being asked, their staves vanishing in a bit of light. Sarutobi noticed that Naruto had a black cloth bracer with a small orange gem on one forearm; Hinata likewise now wore a green ring with an opal on one finger. Some kind of sealing technique, obviously, probably using those gems instead of scroll-based. He nodded slightly and turned to lead the way back to his office.

The walk to the Hokage Tower was as much about gathering information as it was going to a secure location. The Hyuuga were not the only ninja to master the art of observing without looking, and Sarutobi did a lot of observing.

Naruto was the least different in many ways, but those differences were dramatic. The boy stood tall and proud, his cocky grin easier on his face. His eyes were bright and clear, his cheeks unstained, his walk casual and easy. Most of the village wouldn't see it, but Sarutobi had known the boy's mask for what it had been, hiding the pain of loneliness. Now he saw a bit of uncertainty behind the confidence, but nothing else. The boy without friends had found some.

Hinata was, as always, quite familiar with the shoes of everyone she met. Sarutobi doubted her line of sight had risen enough to see his hat even once so far. Her isolation had been very different from Naruto's, enforced by her insecurities as much as anything else, but Sarutobi had known of her loneliness. She was at least a half-step closer to Naruto than would really be proper, not close enough to touch but easily close enough to draw some strength from his presence. Naruto didn't seem fully aware of it, but Sarutobi had no doubt that if Hinata ever got the nerve to rest her head on his shoulder, Naruto would automatically put his arm around her. Not that Hinata was likely to take that step any time soon.

The new girl, Naru_k_o, was a whole set of mysteries wrapped into one. The way she walked,she didn't have a care in the world, guilelessly looking around herself and taking in the sights and sounds of Konoha at night. She clearly wasn't a clone of Naruto; the boy had no talent for acting and couldn't pull off the subtleties of someone who had never been in the village before. What Sarutobi found disturbing was how the girl seemed almost aggressive in her confidence. That her motions gave him more than enough evidence to determine that her ears and tails were real parts of her was barely a bonus.

Eventually they reached and entered the tower. Sarutobi made some discrete checks as he entered his office, going down a mental checklist. Three ANBU waiting in the shadows. Tenzo, Cat, and Platypus. Good, they had no connection to Danzo. Security seals on the doors and windows, charged and active. Trespass seal unbroken. No one was going to be observing them without Sarutobi's consent. They were safe. He sat down at his desk and smiled at the pot of tea waiting for them all. He poured and looked at the three children. "Before we start with what happened, I think an introduction is in order," he said, nodding at Naruko.

"Ah, right," Naruto said. "Naruko is my familiar."

Sarutobi waited a moment. "And a familiar is...?"

Naruto blinked repeatedly. "Don't we have those here?" he asked, frowning in thought.

"I...I don't think so, Naruto," Hinata mumbled.

"What about Kiba?" he argued. "He has that puppy."

"Are you saying she's like an animal companion?" Sarutobi asked. That...could explain the ears? Maybe? Actually no, it didn't really explain anything.

"Well she's not an animal," Naruto protested. "Usually."

Sarutobi reminded himself that it was unbecoming of a Hokage to facepalm. "Bottom line," he grumbled, "is she or is she not loyal or obedient to you?"

"Yes," Naruto said firmly.

"Yes she is, or yes she isn't?" Sarutobi asked.

"He is my master," Naruko interrupted before _that_ could get much further. "He gave me life, and I will use it to protect and serve him."

Sarutobi winced slightly. The idea of Naruto _giving life_ was for some reason too horrible to contemplate. "I'll accept that for now. However, we still need to address what all happened to you, from the beginning. Naruto?"

Naruto nodded. "Well, first there was a big explosion. Then the stars formed from the dust."

Naruko reached over and smacked Naruto upside the head. "Wrong beginning."

"Oh," Naruto chuckled a moment and grew almost somber. "I've had a lot of time to think about the beginning. That jutsu. Admiral Lindy had a lot of big words to describe it. I don't really get it at all, but when I performed the jutsu all I was thinking was to take Hinata and me away somewhere, anywhere, where we would be safe, where we could get help..." Naruto's voice trailed off for a moment.

Sarutobi searched the boy's face. "Somewhere no one would call you a demon?" he asked kindly.

Naruto hesitated, and nodded once. "Yeah," he said simply, getting back on track. "Anyway, the jutsu needs a bit of work on what it considers 'safe.' See, it dropped us off in a battle..."

* * *

_My name is Nanoha Takamachi, and I'm twelve years old. I should have been an ordinary sixth grader, but for a chance encounter three years ago. Instead, I'm a junior officer with the Time-Space Administration Bureau! I use my magical powers to help people with my really close friends._

Nanoha didn't know why she slipped into self-narration every few years, so she just pushed it aside. "Let's go, Raising Heart! Set up!"

[Set up: Axel Mode. Barrier Jacket: Aggressor Mode.]

Nanoha leveled her staff at her opponent. "Shoot!"

[Axel shooter.]

A full dozen pink bullets streaked out from Raising Heart and flew towards the...Nanoha didn't know what it was. A machine, about as tall as her but more massive, with four legs that looked like scythes and ended in wicked points. It didn't have a separate head and torso, but a visor-like device at about eye level was probably its eyes. It had two more weapon-arms behind its torso held upwards; at least one limb could strike in any given direction. Fortunately it had only tried to attack physically so far. If she could fly, she'd be out of range.

But she couldn't fly. The mission had gone too long. She was tired, her magic was all but gone. She didn't even have any magazines left. Vita's group had finished examining the site. Nanoha had cleared out their evac zone and had taken a few moments to rest. Then this...this...gadget appeared out of nowhere.

The magic bullets closed on the gadget and evaporated, their power stripped away. The tiny shards that made it through dented the gadget but didn't so much as slow it down.

"What?" Nanoha gasped. She jumped away as a scythe tried to take her head off. "An AMF? Raising Heart, cartridge load!"

[Load cartridge.] Five left. [Axel shooter: variable shell]

"Shoot!" Another dozen homing bullets flew through the air, bigger than the last. They impacted the anti-magic field and penetrated, the field stripping away at the protective casing but unable to get at the bullet.

The gadget stopped moving and seemed to stare at the oncoming bullets, then suddenly they too evaporated. It had increased power to its AMF.

Nanoha grimaced. It wasn't the first time she had to push herself past her limits. It wouldn't be the last. "Exelion mode!" she screamed. "Engage drive!"

Raising Heart chugged through two more cartridges. [Drive ignition. Exelion mode, stand by ready.]

Nanoha pointed the new triangle head staff at the gadget. "Exelion buster, point blank range! Force burst!"

[All right.] Raising heart extended six pink wings and extended its barrel through the staff head. [Barrel shot.] It fired off a shockwave that knocked the gadget backwards a few yards. In the opened distance, Raising Heart built up a ball of pink destruction. The remaining three cartridges were spent to fuel the blast; the empty magazine would have automatically ejected to clear the way for a new one...but Nanoha didn't have one to give it.

"Last chance! Exelion buster! SHOOT!" Nanoha shrieked. The ball of power burst and streaked forward, catching the gadget drone full on. The machine was incapable of regret, but it did note the failure of its mission. Its AMF was nothing to this torrent of power, and it was washed away. When the light faded, and Nanoha collapsed in exhaustion, there was nothing left but ash and smoke. She fell to her knees, Raising Heart dangling in a loose grip from a limp arm.

Raising Heart transformed back to Axel mode. Without cartridges, Exelion mode was too dangerous for both of them. [It's a direct hit. My master.]

Nanoha smiled. "Thanks, Raising Heart. You did a great job."

That's when a second, cloaked drone appeared behind Nanoha, scythe leg raised to pierce her heart. Nanoha never saw it coming.

"YAAAAAAAAH!"

But she did see two kids about her own age fall from the sky and land on it. The boy shielded the girl with his body, and their mutual impact deflected the thing's strike so Nanoha took it in her side instead of chest.

Nanoha stared at the metal sticking through what used to be her left kidney. She couldn't move. She couldn't even think. The pain...she knew it hurt but she couldn't feel it. In a distant way, she knew that she might die soon.

Naruto felt his back hit something hard and metal and he rolled with it. Then he hit dirt, Hinata under him. He shook his head to clear it. "Hinata! Are you okay?"

"Na...Na...Naruto?" Hinata whimpered.

Naruto smiled and moved to get up when he heard a noise behind him, metal on metal. He grabbed Hinata and threw himself away before some kind of giant metal crab tried to skewer them. He rolled to his feet. "What is that thing?"

Hinata scrambled to her feet as well. "Wh...where are we?"

"Hnn, that jutsu was supposed to take us somewhere we could get help," Naruto mused. "Maybe this metal thing is supposed to be a weapon we can use?"

"It doesn't look friendly," Hinata whispered. She looked around and gasped. "NARUTO!"

Naruto spun and saw a girl about his age. She didn't have a forehead protector, and she was wearing a weird white and blue outfit, and that staff didn't look like a weapon, so she was a civilian. And that wound looked bad. He turned back to the gadget and growled. "Hey, crab head! What are you attacking civilians for?" He got into a taijutsu stance. "If you want a fight, you deal with shinobi dattebayo!"

Hinata made a series of handsigns. "Byakugan! Naruto, that thing doesn't have any chakra at all! There's nothing alive there!"

Naruto frowned. "It's a machine?" He grinned. "Then I guess I don't have to worry about holding back dattebayo!" He crossed the fingers on two hands. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Nanoha's vision swam, her eyes unwilling to focus. The boy was a mage, using illusion magic. "No," she tried to say. "AMF...it won't..."

Hinata released her byakugan. Without chakra, there was little her juuken could do to the machine. She went to the girl instead. "Don't try and talk," she said, looking around for something to make bandages out of. "Let Naruto deal with that thing."

Nanoha ignored the girl. Neither of them had devices; they had to be civilian hedge mages. They didn't have a chance against an AMF field that strong! They needed to understand!

Naruto cracked his knuckles and saw about two dozen of him doing the same. Hmm, he needed more than that to take down Mizuki. But then, he wasn't trying to _kill_ Mizuki. He reached behind him and into his shirt. His hand reappeared with a kunai. Around him, his clones had also drawn their copies of the hidden weapon.

The machine was done giving them time to prepare, though. Its simple AI processed the appearance of a crude weapon as a threat to its mission. It scuttled towards the closest Naruto.

Nanoha watched in confusion. The silhouettes were still active in the AMF zone. That took extraordinary mana reserves and control to pull off so seamlessly. When the thing skewered a Naruto, that boy simply poofed into white smoke.

Nanoha didn't realize she was looking at something outside her immediate understanding until the remaining Naruto threw their kunai at the gadget. They all impacted, and they all clearly hurt. They were solid. Illusions aren't supposed to be solid.

The gadget had been designed as an anti-mage security drone, produced in large numbers to overwhelm opponents with AMF and physical attacks. Its designers simply hadn't considered that a bunch of nonmagical daggers would be thrown at a single unit without backup. Naruto's attack damaged seven critical actuators, paralyzing two of its legs. It could barely stand, let alone defend itself against Naruto's second attack of massed hand to hand contact. Even so, its desperate flailing caught five of the young ninja's clones before a heavy punch to its upper body disconnected its power source from its sensory inputs. The machine's programming demanded an immediate self destruct of all systems to take its enemy with it.

Naruto's eyes widened as the thing under his fist seemed to glow, then his world exploded. _Again_. Fortunately his clones got in the way and took the brunt of the blast. Naruto felt a moment of survivor's guilt that they sacrificed themselves before remembering that _they_ were a part of _him_, and an expendable, replenishable part at that. The arm does not resent taking a blow for the head, nor does the body grieve for a few drops of blood spilled.

Naruto's remaining clones dispersed and he turned to the girl. However, he didn't get a chance to say anything. "NANOHA!" came a new voice. Naruto looked and saw a new girl, quite young, in a red, frilly outfit with a poofy hat and a toy mallet. "Nanoha! What happened!"

Nanoha smiled, even as she felt the last of her strength leave her body. They were going to be just fine, now. She could trust Vita. "They...saved me," she said as the world went dark. Vita's arms wrapped around her as she fell, and she entered a peaceful dream.

Vita gathered her friend up in her arms and looked at the newcomers. Civilians saved the White Devil? That had to be a new one. And they didn't do a good job; the girl's makeshift bandages where an utterly trivial measure against a wound like that. Nanoha's intestines were dangling out of her, for goodness sake! And Raising Heart...she herself had done less damage to Nanoha's device when she tried to steal her linker core. One of the cooling mounts was almost ripped off, and that wasn't supposed to be possible! So, priorities. "_Get down here you idiots!_" she sent up to their ship, the Arthra. "_She's going __to fucking die here!_"

"_Roger that!_" the response came in clipped, professional tones. "_Medical team Alpha is en route to transmission. Infirmary standing by to receive critical patient._"

"Um," Naruto said, "is she going to be okay?"

"Does she **look** like she's going to be okay?" Vita snapped. "What the hell did you do to distract her so much?"

"We kinda fell out of the sky," Naruto admitted.

Vita gaped. "You were learning to fly instead of evacing with the others?"

"E-evac?" Hinata asked. "Is this place dangerous?"

Vita stared at the two of them, utterly uncomprehending. "Who are you two?"

"Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata introduced herself with a bow.

Naruto grinned and jabbed at himself with a thumb. "Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"

"Dammit, more people who are hard to pronounce!" Vita snapped. "And what the hell does 'dattebayo' mean?"

Naruto blinked and grabbed the back of his head. "Eheh..."

A blue circle appeared in midair and projected a flatscreen style image inside itself, an image of a man-child not much older than themselves, short black hair, wearing a black uniform. "That's enough, Vita," the man said. "There'll be plenty of time for those questions **after** Nanoha is stable. For now get yourselves ready for transport to the Arthra." The image turned to face Naruto and Hinata. "I am Enforcer Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau and captain of this vessel. Due to the unusual situation, I am going to have to ask you to come aboard and explain the details."

Naruto looked to Hinata and back to the image. "What are you talking about, dattebayo?" he asked cluelessly.

* * *

Naruto waved slightly and the image of his younger self paused.

Sarutobi still didn't know what to make of these images. Naruto's tale was accompanied by another one of those glowing orange circles, but this one was upright and had pictures in it that showed the scenes he described, much like how Chrono had placed his image down on the planet. He turned his attention back to the Naruto that was in his office and silently raised an eyebrow.

"After that they teleported us onto their ship," he said. "Pretty much what you'd expect. Awe, shock, disbelief dattebayo. Took us a few hours of really boring chatter."

"A summary will be sufficient," Sarutobi noted dryly.

Naruto nodded. "Basically, they call themselves the Time-Space Administration Bureau. They use agents they call 'mages' to enforce their laws and deal with disaster relief. Nanoha is one of their stronger mages."

"She did not seem powerful by this report," Sarutobi pointed out.

"Ano," Hinata spoke up, "Nanoha had been working constantly for many hours before we arrived."

Naruto nodded energetically. "Believe it. We came in at the end of a mission to evacuate a village and investigate a laboratory belonging to a criminal."

"We would rate him an S-rank missing nin," Hinata said faintly.

Sarutobi revised his opinions drastically. He knew how fatigue could change the performance of skill and ability. The girl had worn herself to the point of exhaustion against S-rank enemy forces and then retained consciousness after grievous injury. Admirable, if it was true. "Did she survive?"

Naruto turned to look at the image he was projecting...

* * *

"Nanoha?" Shamal asked, opening the door to the room. "Are you awake?"

Nanoha hit a control to raise the bed so she was sitting more upright. "Yeah," she said cheerfully. It was a little forced, but the little smile was genuine.

"You have some visitors, if you want. The boy and girl from the planet."

"Oh yes, please Shamal. That'll be great."

Shamal smiled slightly and waved Naruto and Hinata into the hospital room.

This was the fifth day after the incident that hospitalized Nanoha and brought Naruto and Hinata to the TSAB. They had managed to keep their outfits mostly the same and still wore those metal plates with the strange leaf design on them, but it was obvious that they had changed clothes, probably several times, and were well-fed and cared for. That meant someone was providing for them. Nanoha knew the TSAB kept funds to care for dimensionally displaced individuals while their situations were being resolved; it was part of the job of civil servants after all. "Hey guys!"

"Hi," Hinata said, somewhat subdued. She looked at Nanoha's injuries and then to the floor.

Naruto more than made up for Hinata's shyness. A frighteningly huge grin on his face, he bounded over to Nanoha. "Heya! How are you doing?"

Nanoha tried to return the grin but winced in pain instead; following Naruto required she twist in a way that her sides were telling her was **not** a good idea. "Ah...I'm fine," she said. "They tell me I'm not rejecting the new kidney and I'll be fit for light duty again in a month." Which meant she was going to blast her way out of the hospital in three weeks, maximum, but she wasn't going to share that detail. "But I'm afraid we never got a chance for a proper introduction. I'm Nanoha Takamachi, and I'm a junior officer with the Time-Space Administration." She closed her eyes and smiled kindly.

Naruto adjusted his headband. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a ninja of Konohagakure, and the next Hokage dattebayo!"

Hinata was still looking at the floor. "I'm Hinata Hyuuga, also a ninja of Konohagakure."

Nanoha smiled. "Naruto and Hinata. Okay!"

Naruto lost a bit of his grin and shuffled his feet. "We, ah, we wanted to say how sorry we were."

"Sorry?" Nanoha asked.

"For not stopping that thing from stabbing you," Naruto explained. "We should have been able to save you."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Nanoha said. "Look, I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Naruto protested. "You lost your whatever that was..."

"Kidney," Hinata supplied.

"Right, and they had to make you a new one," Naruto finished. "We owe you a kidney. We woulda tried to find one, but I don't think we could afford it. The people here have been really nice about providing for us until we can get home, but we don't have a lot of money."

Nanoha could think of a bunch of other reasons why that would have been a very bad idea. "Well, why don't you get jobs until they can find a way to get you home?" she asked.

"Jobs?" Naruto asked. He looked at Hinata.

"But we're ninja," Hinata protested. "I know how to do some stuff, but Naruto..."

"I didn't have all that civilian infiltration stuff Hinata did," he explained. "All I really know how to do is be a ninja."

"Well, from what I saw you are a pretty good mage," Nanoha said brightly. "Why don't I write a letter to the Administration; I'm sure we can make you part-time mages until you can go home."

"Really?" Naruto asked. He didn't really have any interest in being a mage, but being a burden on such nice people didn't sit well either. "That would be great!"

"Uh-huh!" Nanoha agreed. "It'll work out, I'm sure of it!" And once he had some cash flow, _then_ she would explain that she really didn't want a third kidney as a get-well-soon present.

* * *

Author's Commentary

Ultimately this is not a Naruto/Hinata pairing, at least not in the sense of any kind of immediate relationship above close friends. Simply put, I don't like Sakura, I have plans for Sasuke, and so if I'm looking outside of team 7 I might as well pick Hinata. I like her.

Now, if this fic reaches the point where Nagato is visible on the horizon, then you can expect a paradigm shift to a romance. But for now, Hinata is a little closer to Naruto, Naruto is a little more attentive to Hinata, but they're "just" friends.


	3. Set Up

Chapter 3: Set Up

Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe. "Part time mages?" he asked.

Naruto and Hinata both produced laminated credentials. "Naruto Uzumaki, TSAB part time mage, B+ composite rank."

"Hinata Hyuuga, TSAB part time mage, ground rank B+," Hinata added.

Naruko searched her pockets and sighed. "Lost it. Oh well. Naruko Uzumaki, TSAB part time, familiar rank B."

"What exactly do the ranks mean?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto hummed for a moment. "It's a measure of power. We're all about chunin, I think," he said slowly.

"Not high chunin," Hinata added quietly.

_But far more than raw genin_, Sarutobi noted. "And the specialties, I'm assuming?"

"Hinata's taijutsu," Naruto explained. "Composite basically means I don't have a specialty."

"They both could have taken aerial ranks," Naruko said in conspiratorial tones, "but that would have brought them down to B rank."

"I see," Sarutobi said. "So you're saying that you, Naruto, are ranked chunin for overall ability, while you, Hinata, have that rank primarily because of your juuken?" He received a set of nods and felt satisfied. "You know you're both still genin here, at least until you pass the exam?" More nods. "Good. Then why don't you talk about the training you received."

Naruto thought that over. "Well, that's where things get complicated," he said.

* * *

Lindy Harlaown wasn't entirely sure how she had ended up working so many cases with powerful orphans over the years since the Jewel Seed incident, but in this case she was glad of it. Even before taking Fate in she had developed a fondness for the Nanoha girl, and the two children she had just been assigned had saved her from a terrible injury. It felt right to keep the matter 'in the family' as it were. "So, how have you been adjusting? Let's see, it's been about a week since the Arthra picked you up, right?" she asked. "So you've been on Mid-Childa for about three days?"

"Yes, that's right," Hinata murmured. They were in a small, comfortable room in one of the Bureau's buildings.

"This is a heck of a village," Naruto said loudly. "I mean, I didn't know there was any place bigger than Konoha."

Lindy smiled slightly. It was obvious that wherever they were from (and finding _that_ was still a work in progress) was a low-tech world. "Well I'm glad you're adjusting. Now, why don't you tell me why you want to become part-time mages?"

"Well, we don't have a lot of skills," Naruto said. "We gotta make a living somehow, dattebayo."

"Admirable, but are you sure you can handle the work?" Lindy pressed.

Hinata looked stricken. Had Nanoha's letter gotten lost? Naruto just frowned a bit. "Well, I took down that gadget thing. Doesn't that show I can?"

"Normally, but you completely failed the physical," Lindy said seriously. "Your linker core is barely in the C range, Miss Hyuuga. And yours, Mister Uzumaki, is so weak we can't even get a good read on it."

"What?" Naruto gaped. "But...but what is a linker core anyway?"

"Hmm," Lindy thought, trying to find an easy way to explain. "You could say it links a mage to his magic. The stronger the core, the more mana and the more powerful magic the mage is capable of. Neither of you are currently strong enough to be mages."

"That's not true," Naruto growled. "There isn't anything I can't do. Shuriken, kunai, kawarimi, kage bunshin, it doesn't matter. Your test has to be wrong."

"Naruto's chakra coils are very developed," Hinata agreed. "N...not that I've looked!"

Lindy's brow furled in thought. "I assume 'chakra' is what you call mana? And you say Naruto has developed 'chakra coils?'"

"Chakra is a combination of spiritual and physical energy," Hinata explained. She briefly wished she had Sakura's talent for memorization. "Ninja then use chakra to power jutsu. I have a bloodline that lets me see chakra for a short period of time; Naruto's chakra is very strong."

Naruto puffed himself up. "Right, so your test has to be wrong," he declared again.

Lindy was less convinced. She tilted her head slightly and called up her own power. A green mid-childan circle formed on the floor around her. "Is this chakra?"

Hinata made handsigns. "Byakugan! ...no, Admiral. I do not know what that is, but it is not chakra."

Lindy allowed the circle to fade. "Interesting. I think we might need to revise our examination."

* * *

Naruto and Hinata looked at eachother nervously. They were in a big conference room with Admiral Lindy and a bunch of other people. Almost everyone they had really met was there, except Nanoha of course, and a bunch of people they didn't know seemed very interested.

One of the new people, a blonde boy their age, got up. "Thank you all for coming," he said. "I am Yuuno Scrya, librarian of the Infinity Library. I was asked to investigate any records we had into a kind of energy known as chakra in relation to two refugees recently found in the field. You've all been briefed on our guests, so we'll dispense with the preamble." A screen appeared behind Yuuno and he half turned to point at parts of it. It showed a simple picture of a nondescript man, with his chakra pathways overlaid as a diagram. However, there was another element, a glowing spot that Hinata, who was extremely familiar with chakra pathways, could not identify. Yuuno pointed to that spot. "A mage's linker core is his conduit to magical energy. Thaumaturgical theory on the ultimate origin of that energy beside the point, the linker core is the source of a person's mana. In the Mid style, the Belkan style, and almost every other magical practice we are familiar with, raw mana is harnessed from the linker core to perform magic. However, this mana is also put to other uses. Shamal?"

A blonde woman stood up. She had a soft, attractively curved body and a calm, easy demeanor that belied the iron core in her spirit. Naruto and Hinata knew her from the second round of examinations, when they tried to explain what chakra was (a task Naruto was singularly hopeless at). "Thank you, Yuuno. One of the reasons that damage to a linker core is so dangerous is that the body needs a certain amount of mana just to be able to function. If the body does not get enough mana, it can lead to fatigue, paralysis, loss of organ function, and eventually death. The body is so dependent on mana that the severity of these symptoms escalates rapidly as the supply of mana wanes. This naturally siphoned mana is mixed with bodily energies at several points and then circulates throughout the body, as we've diagramed here." Shamal traced part of the chakra network as she spoke. "This energy mix, which we recently thought nothing more than a biomagical curiosity, is chakra."

Naruto noticed some mutterings at that, but it went right over his head. "So does that mean that chakra and mana are the same thing?" he asked loudly.

"Not at all," Shamal answered graciously. "Mana is a part of chakra, but the other energies give chakra very different qualities. It would be like comparing hydrogen and water." She saw that the analogy made no sense to Naruto. "Ask me about it later," she suggested kindly. They had, after all, a meeting to continue.

"So these foreign mages have learned to cast spells using chakra?" one of the uniformed men asked. Naruto didn't know the man, but he thought the uniform he was wearing marked him part of the ground forces rather than the navy. "Is that why their linker cores are stunted?"

"Our readings on their cores were a false negative," Shamal explained. "The most common test on linker core power is to measure the mana the person has in their body, which is then used to calculate a reliable estimate of the linker core's capacity for sustaining magic. This test measures excess mana, mana which is not used in creating the chakra the body needs to survive. Naruto and Hinata, however, have exercised their chakra so much that their bodies mix far more than they need to survive. Because they make so much chakra, even at rest, their linker cores don't radiate nearly as much mana as they normally would."

"Can chakra be used for spellcasting?" Vita asked.

Yuuno took over. "That's a difficult question to answer. In all my searching I wasn't able to find any magical schools that made use of chakra for spells. Most disciplines that used the energy focused on bodily enhancement and sensory manipulation. I doubt that the Mid style, which relies on long range magical attacks, would be effective when powered by chakra. The Belkan style, however, could make use of chakra to more effectively bolster their physical prowess. However, this would almost certainly worsen their purely magical abilities." He paused. "On the other hand, Naruto and Hinata have demonstrated the few jutsu they have learned, and brought with them a record of extremely advanced techniques, simple in theory but too power-intensive to be useful. From that research, we know that chakra can be used to dramatic effect in sensory manipulation, summoning, and other areas that our own magic is inefficient at performing. Hinata tells us she is only average at the 'bunshin jutsu' which is one of their academy standards, but she is capable of matching the silhouettes of a B rank illusion specialist."

That caused a bit of a stir. Illusion magic was rare and powerful; for that alone this new magic was worthy of investigation. "Can we train mages to use mana and chakra together, using whichever one is more appropriate?" the ground division officer asked.

"It would be possible," Yuuno agreed, "but I doubt it would work well. The chakra coils, the body's ability to turn mana into chakra, is not a conscious thing. A mage-ninja hybrid would put his linker core under massive strain to provide both chakra and mana at the same time. He could very easily find himself without enough mana to do anything."

Naruto tilted his head. "Couldn't the chakra be split up and turned back into mana and…whatever the other stuff is?"

Yuuno opened his mouth to answer, then visibly rethought the question. "Shamal?" he asked.

Shamal was likewise thinking hard. "That doesn't happen naturally," she said. "And it wouldn't be easy."

"Not easy," Yuuno agreed, "but possible?"

Shamal nodded. "I think so," she said in tones that suggested she didn't know why she hadn't thought of that.

The meeting lasted only a few more minutes while the finer points of chakra and mana manipulation were discussed without anything really being decided, then the TSAB people started filing out of the room. Hinata and Naruto were left with Lindy, Vita, Yuuno and Shamal.

Lindy smiled. "I'm happy to say that this morning, we found your home dimension. But unfortunately there's a problem."

Yuuno adjusted the magical screen and suddenly Konoha dominated the image, as if seen from a great height. "This is a live feed," he explained. "What you see is what's happening now." He made another adjustment and the picture zoomed in and refocused on a blonde boy running through the streets.

Hinata eeped and fainted while Naruto stared in dead shock. "That's…me."

Yuuno nodded slightly. "Whatever jutsu you used must have sent you back in time."

"Judging by how the you-that-is-there looks," Shamal added, "at least a year."

"A year?" Naruto whispered.

Lindy nodded slowly. "We found what we think is the current date. Can you tell us how long ago that was, from your perspective?"

Naruto watched as the screen spun wildly and refocused on some tests being written by Iruka. Naruto didn't need to look at the date – he recognized that test. "That was a year and a half ago," he said. "I stole…I mean I will steal those tests and toss them in the river that night. Tonight. This is weird!" he complained.

Lindy nodded slowly. "Naruto, we could return you to your home right now…but I don't think that's a good idea. You and Hinata are out of your own time. This is very rare; we don't know what would happen if you met your…past selves."

"Nothing good," Vita grumbled. "Nothing good ever comes from messing with time. The past is the past, ain't nobody has the right to mess with it."

"Then…then what are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

Lindy didn't look like she had a great answer.

"Exactly what you were going to do," Yuuno said suddenly. "You become part time mages, and help me put together a new style of magic that uses chakra we can refine into mana."

"That could take a long time, Yuuno," Lindy warned. "Where would you even get funding?"

Vita snorted. "You saw how that officer lit up, and he wasn't the only one in the crowd. Plenty of people will want to make chakra mages work so they can harness that jutsu stuff for themselves. There's your funding."

Lindy chewed her lip. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask. But I wouldn't expect much."

Less than a day later, the TSAB had fully funded the Mage-Ninja Hybridization Research Department and provided it with the most cutting edge technology they could.

* * *

Sarutobi blew out a puff of smoke. "So, you developed this hybrid style they spoke of," he concluded.

Naruto nodded and held up his bracer. "This is Gungnir, the first device to use chakra instead of mana dattebayo."

[Believe it,] the bracer announced. The dispassionate, mechanical tones were utterly at odds with Naruto's typically enthusiastic exultation.

Hinata presented her hand, the ring glinting on it. "Gentle Arc, the second device," she said.

[It is to serve,] the ring offered.

Sarutobi glanced to the two talking gems and wondered why anyone would give Naruto, of all people, what amounted to a second mouth. Then he looked to Naruko.

The familiar grinned back at him and shook her head, sending her long ponytails swaying. "I don't use a device, and I've got mana to burn besides."

Sarutobi knew there was more of a story there, but the purpose of the interview was complete. "Very well. You are dismissed. Report to the academy tomorrow for your genin team assignments."

Sarutobi watched the children leave. Naruto grew even more animated as he left the Hokage's immediate attention, something that brought a small smile to Sarutobi's lips. If that wasn't actually Naruto, it was the best actor he had ever seen. But that suspicion was not enough, and he looked to a blank patch of wall. "Come."

The hidden door opened silently, revealing Inoichi Yamanaka. "You completed your scans," Sarutobi said. It was not a question.

The mind reading expert nodded. "They have many strange memories, Lord Hokage, but their loyalty to Konoha rings no falsehood. They are who they say they are."

Sarutobi took a long draw from his pipe. That was excellent news. He probably wouldn't need to have them killed in their sleep at this rate. "A story so preposterous would have been a ridiculous deception," he observed. "But it is good to have confirmation, especially with one as…colorful as Naruto. What of the girl, his 'familiar?'"

"She has no loyalty to the village," Inoichi said without emotion, even though such statements had been the doom of many would-be ninja.

"Who has her loyalty, then?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," Inoichi said calmly. "He features prominently in her psyche."

"How far would she go for him?"

"To the grave, Lord Hokage, without batting an eye," Inoichi answered.

Sarutobi finally let loose the smoke in his lungs and put the pipe aside. "Indeed? Such bonds are rare among ninja. Very well, have the jonin council assemble. We will need to adjust the genin teams. It seems Naruto and his…sister have made genin after all."

"I…see. Very well."

* * *

"Do you think we should have told him the rest?" Hinata asked as they left.

"Nah," Naruko said. "They're going to put us on a team and then figure out what we can do."

"Unless they split us up," Naruto said.

Hinata eeped and blushed. "I…I don't think…"

"They wouldn't do that!" Naruko growled. Hinata nodded and stopped talking.

"Yeah, probably not," Naruto agreed. But there was an edge of worry in his voice. He brightened quickly. "Need a lift home, Hinata?"

"Eep? Ah, n-no. I'll walk," Hinata stammered. The last thing she needed was her father to see her with Naruto!

Naruto blinked. "Walk?" he asked, obviously confused.

Naruko caught on first and rolled her eyes. "You were thinking about home back on Mid-Childa," she surmised.

"Well, yeah," Naruto said.

"We have homes here, Naruto," Hinata reminded the boy gently. "I need to get back to…my…father," she finished weakly. Coming up the street was the last man she wanted to see.

Hiashi Hyuuga didn't let his stride change, but he quickly, imperceptibly ran every genjutsu counter he could without handsigns. And he didn't need the byakugan to know that wasn't a henge. His daughter was taller than she had been that morning. Her hair had at least a full year's growth over what it had been. Her clothing had minor changes to accommodate a notably more mature figure (deep in his subconscious, paternal instincts opened a new file labeled UNWORTHY SUITORS and started populating it with a list of every boy Hinata looked at). Her stance was timid, frightened, but the minute traces of confidence were there for one as adept at reading body language as a Hyuuga. Hinata had been _trained_ and _tested_. Hiashi could only come up with one inescapable, impossible explanation.

His little girl was growing up. A lot faster than she had any right to.

As he drew nearer, he recognized similar changes in the village pariah. That was…interesting (Naruto's name jumped to the top of UNWORTHY SUITORS and was given five stars and thirty eight point font). And the…foxgirl? That was…odd.

The mask of the clan head didn't leave his face. His unbroken stride carried him past the teens without his even acknowledging their presence.

Behind him, Hinata sagged, in mixed relief and disappointment. _He didn't rebuke me_, she thought. _He__ didn't even look at me_.

* * *

Hiashi stayed silent for the meeting. Hinata and Naruto had been transported to another world for over a year, learning an entirely new kind of jutsu along the way? Interesting.

Then it came time to decide what to _do_ about it. Kakashi was bored. Kurenai wanted them to stay together as a genin team. Asuma thought it might be better to split them up. Danzo thought Naruto should be brought in for 'observation.' Anko wanted Naruto in Torture and Interrogation, said the kid showed talent when he dealt with Mizuki. A preliminary vote showed that everyone else – making this the first vote that Sarutobi and Danzo agreed on in living memory – thought that giving Anko a student was a disaster waiting to happen.

Hiashi met Sarutobi's gaze briefly. Neither had voiced their own opinion yet. Sarutobi ultimately held too much authority to debate effectively. And Hiashi…this was one of those rare moments when Hiashi realized he was not just a clan head, but a father. His voice would carry more weight on Hinata's future than any other here. Divided as the council was, it would be a trivial matter to separate Hinata from her obvious crush and groom her into being a proper heir to the Hyuuga main family.

Hiashi cleared his throat. _For my daughter._ "It is my wish," he began…

* * *

The next morning, Iruka unsealed the list of genin teams. "Hmm…Sasuke, Sakura…Kiba? How did Kiba make dead last? No matter. Ino-Shika-Cho, no surprise there. Shino's going on to Interrogation duty? Well he has the quiet menace thing going on, but that's an odd choice. What…what is this!"

Iruka felt his morning coffee slip from his nerveless fingers, but the scroll refused to change.

TEAM EIGHT: Hyuuga, Hinata; Uzumaki, Naruko; Uzumaki, Naruto. Jonin: Yuhi, Kurenai

* * *

Author's notes

Well, this ends what was supposed to be a prologue. This fic took longer to get into gear than I thought. No worries, after this, things will actually _start happening_!

On the matter of ranks, this is ultimately a ballpark. Subaru and Teanna's test for B rank gives a good, solid foundation for judging the kind of combat expected of B rank ground troops. Ultimately the obstacle course they went through was comparable in many ways to the Forest of Death in the Chunin Exam Arc. For this reason I put B rank as about novice chunin. Ninja and mages go about things in different ways, so any comparison is iffy at best, but the challenges they face are, I think, the best barometer.

On the specific ranks, Naruto's composite rank marks him as having more raw power and useful skills than any particular strength in a combat scenario. Hinata's ground rank is tribute to her juuken and its quickly debilitating effects, particularly in a culture that has no knowledge of chakra to try and formulate a defense against it. Naruko's comment that they could both hold B class aerial ranks tells us that their general combat skills, particularly in engagements that may begin with the opponent at range, are not far behind their specialties that allow them the higher B+ rank.


	4. Tests

Chapter 4: Tests

Hinata stood on the roof of a building, in the shadow of a water tower, looking out into a middle distance over Konoha as she observed the morning sky. Idly she thought over how her experience as a mage had so changed her training as a ninja. She had cover, but her position was exposed on three sides and she hadn't moved in some time. Too, her stance was relaxed and unguarded. As a ninja, she was trained to always be alert for enemies, even at home, and to be ready to defend herself. As a mage, however, she knew the unobtrusive ring on her finger gave her a better defense than any reasonable effort she could put into her daily routine would afford. Besides, she was not so lost in her view of the landscape as to ignore her other senses. She heard her target approaching.

He was yelling.

"…saving that for Sakura!"

"There isn't a girl alive that wants a shuriken for her birthday!"

"She's a ninja!"

"It was dented, dull, and useless! Like everything else in that pigsty!"

"Hey, the stove is not useless!"

"Naruto, there were two kinds of food in your apartment. Food that was spoiled, and food that was ramen."

"That's no reason to throw out the ramen!"

Hinata smiled softly and twiddled her fingers. Naruko had really beaten the slob out of Naruto over the past year. She had no doubt that the state of Naruto's apartment had been a shock to the boy's familiar, to say nothing of his pantry.

Hinata had no idea _how_ Naruko was such a great cook, but she wasn't about to complain. A year of eating her cooking was almost enough to ruin Naruto's taste for cheap ramen. Almost.

The squabbling pair passed below the building Hinata was standing on so she decided to join them. She stepped off the edge and calmly fell free for a moment before her magic bouyed her. This wasn't flight, with Gentle Arc in standby she wasn't strong enough to fly, but her fall slowed and she landed in an easy crouch. "Hello Naruto, Naruko," she said softly.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto greeted, as if pretty girls falling out of the sky was an everyday occurrence. "How did it go seeing your family again?"

Hinata's slight smile vanished to be replaced by confusion. "I'm not sure," the Hyuuga heiress admitted. "Everyone was looking at me strangely but no one said anything. It was very confusing."

The blondes blinked at that and Naruko shrugged, an ear twitching. "Maybe they're going to leave you alone?" she asked hopefully.

Hinata smiled a bit at the girl's optimism, but nothing was ever that simple.

* * *

Neji frowned from the shadows. Something was _wrong_ with Hinata. She had been in the range of his divination long enough for him to tell that the silly schoolgirl had changed. She was at least a year older than she had been yesterday, she moved like one seasoned by experience, and she had a ring which tapped a trickle of her chakra.

But she was not seasoned as a ninja was, constantly in danger of painful death or worse. She was not watching for threats or keeping away from exposed positions. She held herself in a way that could never respond quickly to attack. And most strangely of all, when she jumped from the roof she didn't fall right. Had she merely chosen a poor stance and landed badly that would have been excusable for the poor excuse of a ninja, but she had landed perfectly. No, the problem was that she did not fall _quickly_ enough. Something, some invisible thing, had caught her fall and slowed her to a comfortable landing. And that fall had accompanied a greater drain on her chakra from that ring of hers.

Most damning of all, of course, was that the shy little girl had chosen to leave her high place to join the subject of her long-time crush, Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata's fascination with the boy was a secret from no one in the Hyuuga, and had been tolerated only because Hinata maintained a discrete distance. If the silly girl was actually seeking a relationship now, it would be an embarrassment to the Main Family.

Neji was just fine with that. He sneered at the girl and her chosen paramour from his unseen position and abandoned his self-appointed post. He had his own team to attend to, after all. Hinata was a failure fate, and whatever happened to her had entangled her with another, worse failure. Obviously she had attempted to buck her fate, and just as obviously she had failed. Neji allowed a cold smile. She had warned her last time they sparred, yes he did. The only reward for defying fate was suffering.

* * *

Iruka Umino smiled slightly as his graduating class wandered in. The final class at the Academy was always bitter-sweet, a time when memories sung loudly in the faces of children he'd trained to adjust to the harsh ninja world. Each year had its ups and downs, each class had its oddballs. Each student had a story to tell and a story yet to be written. But few classes were as…intriguing as this one. Memories flashed as his eyes roved over the students filling the classroom.

Sakura Haruno, first ninja in her family as far as he knew. Brilliant mind but flighty, and a natural leader among the prepubescent kunoichi.

Ino Yamanaka, heir to the mentalists of the Leaf. As bitchy as they get, but the girl had talent.

Shikamaru Nara, the lazy genius. Iruka had never been able to predict when the student would actually do something, and no one had ever kept up with his thought process when he did.

Sasuke Uchiha, Rookie of the Year. Few students changed so much so quickly as he had. The bright boy that admired his brother was a thing of the past, but Iruka still saw some of the light of that talented boy that laughed so easily.

The class grew quiet with confusion as the door opened again, and Iruka didn't have to look to know who had entered.

Hinata Hyuuga, the wallflower. Humility in a Hyuuga was unheard of, yet there she was. You'd never expect it with her reputation, but her taijutsu was an easy contender for best in the class and her ninjutsu was not far behind. She was no threat to Sakura's academic standing, but the biggest thing holding her back from contending for Rookie of the Year was a lack of determination.

Naruto Uzumaki, completely indefinable. The best students teach their teachers something about themselves. Iruka had learned what it meant to be a teacher at the hands of a boy everyone thought was unteachable. How could they have been so wrong? Naruto had blossomed under attention, and while he was barely passing his enthusiasm and hard work were obvious. Not since Rock Lee had Iruka seen a spirit so unwilling to be crushed.

Iruka looked over the two…three children standing in the doorway to the classroom. Naruto and Hinata had literally changed overnight as far as the ninja world was concerned; even by ninja standards that was a few steps past the usual. It would take time to become used to their matured features, tempered by age and experience. Naruto's excitable, stumbling run had been replaced with an easy, utterly confidant stride. Hinata's closed, timid shuffle had also broken out into a shy, timid walk.

And then there was the fox girl, Naruko. Ears and tail quite beside the point, that girl wasn't normal. Only a handful of kunoichi ever dressed so revealingly, and he'd never met one that had such a blasé attitude or outright swagger in her gait. She exuded pure confidence beyond even Naruto, like she was in complete control of everything that actually mattered in the world. After a moment taking in her stance, Iruka decided that she should never meet Anko Mitarashi. At least, not when he was in the country.

Iruka was brought out of his own musings as his students started coming up with their own reactions. Shikamaru startled him with the calculating expression on his usually disinterested face. Kiba was sniffing the air in confusion. Shino…was a lost cause as far as reading him went. Sasuke didn't care. Choji had a chip frozen halfway to his mouth. Ino looked to Iruka, obviously hoping for an explanation.

Sakura had by far the most violent reaction, standing up and slamming her hands on the desk. "Naruto!" she snapped. "Stop using that perverted jutsu!" She grabbed a book and threw it at Naruto's head.

The rest of the class visibly relaxed. Naruto did something, Sakura yelled and hit him, Naruto boasts about becoming the Hokage, Iruka yells at him and/or Sasuke smirks mockingly, it was a familiar, comfortable routine.

A routine that shattered when Naruko shoved her hand between Sakura's projectile and Naruto's face. "Round shield!" she declared, like she was focusing a jutsu. And despite the lack of hand seals she succeeded, quickly forming a circular diagram of a seven pointed star centered on her hand, less than a foot wide. The book impacted the glowing crimson diagram, apparently solid despite the many gaps between the mystic lines, and promptly reversed course like it hit a springboard. Sakura barely had time to duck. Sasuke showed interest for the first time, staring at the strange jutsu.

Naruko let the shield fade and placed one hand on her hip, shifting her weight to glare at Sakura from a posture appropriate to an alpha female. "You did _not_ just call me a perverted jutsu, girl," she snapped. "Let's get this straight, my name's Naruko. I expect you to remember it, I expect you to use it, and maybe we won't have problems like this again. Got it?"

"Yare yare," Naruto muttered, shaking his head.

"Naruko," Hinata said softly, "I think you might be overdoing it."

Naruko blinked and looked at them, a childish innocence demolishing her unyielding display of just a heartbeat ago. "Really?"

"This is going to become very troublesome," Shikamaru noted. The majority of the class just nodded dumbly.

Iruka sighed. "Naruto, Hinata, take your seats. Naruko, you can," he was about to suggest she hang out in back when she glowed bright red for a moment, her form becoming indistinct in the glow that…collapsed in on itself? A moment later he was looking at a small red-furred fox. She jumped on Naruto's shoulder and looked at Iruka smugly. The teacher shook his head. "Or that," he finished lamely.

Kiba stared at the new fox, curled up around Naruto's shoulders not unlike how he carried Akamaru. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Didn't Naruto fail? What's he doing here? Why is he wearing a headband? Who's the fox?" Murmurs of agreement wove through the class as others gave voice to their own confusion.

Iruka shook his head. "The details are currently classified," he announced. "However I was told that I could offer some basic information. Last night, Mizuki performed acts of treason against Konohagakure and attempted to involve Naruto in his plot. Thanks in large part to Naruto and Hinata, he was captured. Both of them have received official commendations for their actions, and I personally passed Naruto as a genin."

"So it's like an honorary thing?" Sakura asked with a sneer. Naruto had sat next to her as usual, but wasn't hitting on her yet. Maybe he was afraid that if a _real_ genin got mad at him he'd lose that fake headband of his.

"Defeating a chunin in single combat is a truer test of ability than making a bunshin," Iruka said sharply. "Naruto earned his headband as surely as anyone else in this room."

"Except the fox," Kiba pointed out.

Naruko lifted her head. "I don't _have_ a headband, dummy," she said sarcastically.

"You can talk like that?" Choji asked in mild surprise.

"No," Naruko shot back. "What you're hearing is a figment of your imagination." A piece of chalk flew by her head. "Yipe!"

Iruka hefted another bit of chalk and glared at the fox. "Miss Uzumaki, you will not interrupt my class. Clear?"

"Clear, sir," Naruko said with…well she wasn't contrite but at least she wasn't being arrogant any more. Good enough.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying. The fallout of this treason led to the changes in Naruto and Hinata that you have already seen, as well as the arrival of Naruko. Questions?"

Oh yes, there were questions. At a nod from Iruka, the class descended on Naruto. "Why do you look older?"

"We aged about a year," Naruto said, thinking over what the Hokage had said was safe to talk about.

"Is it permanent?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. Unless he henged himself younger.

"You grew a lot. Does that throw off your balance?"

"Nah, it didn't happen all at once for me."

Sasuke looked up. "You _experienced_ that year," he accused. Itachi could only lock someone in a genjutsu for three days. Had Mizuki known a greater jutsu?

Naruto nodded. "Yes."

"What was it?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

"Classified," Naruto said. MidChilda was top of the list of things they couldn't talk about.

"Were you alone?"

"Classified."

"Did Mizuki do this to you?"

"Classified," Naruto repeated, scowling at the Uchiha. "Drop it."

"What's Naruko?" Kiba asked.

"A fox," Naruko answered the question.

"And I'm Queen of the Elemental Countries," Kiba snorted.

Naruko's eyes widened comically. "Your majesty!"

Kiba was grinding his teeth when Naruto intervened. "She's my familiar," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked. Stupid Naruto making up words.

"Classified," Naruto said simply.

Iruka saw everyone was getting hung up on the secrets and called an end to the questions. "Now, as you are all genin, you will be assigned to three man teams under a jonin while you perform missions. A handful of you have been selected for other duties, however." He pulled out the list and ignored everyone staring at Naruto and Hinata, expecting their names to be called. He called out a few names of people sent to cryptography, the division of paperwork, the diplomatic service, and other positions suitable for those trained in and understanding of the ninja lifestyle but lacked the temperament to be in the field. None of the names he called were a surprise to anyone, save one.

"Shino Aburami, you will report to…oh sweet mercy. Anko Mitarashi. Please try to keep her away from the rest of us."

Iruka folded up that list and pulled out another. "The rest of you have been assigned field duty. Konohagakure currently has seven regular field teams in service; one through six and nine. The nine of you will form teams seven, eight, and ten.

"Team Seven, under Kakashi; Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba." Iruka paused for Ino's shriek of outrage and Sakura's gloating to pass. Sasuke just brooded and Kiba grumbled about useless fangirls and emo brats.

"Team Eight under Kurenai;l Naruto, Hinata, and Naruko." Almost no reaction that time, but Hinata smiled a bit.

Naruto shrugged at Iruka. "Wouldn't make sense to split us up, sensei."

Iruka nodded to the point. "And Team Ten, under Asuma, is obviously Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji." Other than Ino grumbling about Sasuke, Team Ten also seemed to expect their fate.

Iruka smiled. These teams were better organized than most after all. Only one team really had any complaints, and with two prodigies on it he was sure Team Seven would become a rising star in the genin world. They might even take the Chunin Exams in under two years.

"Now, if you'll report to your room assignments, your jonin are waiting for you…"

* * *

Naruto opened the door and looked in to an empty classroom. "Hello?" Silence. He turned back to look at Hinata and Naruko, now back in her (mostly) human form. "No one's there."

Hinata frowned. "Kurenai is not usually late," she said.

"You know her?" Naruko asked.

Hinata nodded slightly. "She was hired by my father to tutor me against genjutsu," she explained. "I believe it was counted as a C-rank mission. She stayed in touch ever since."

Naruto grinned. "Genjutsu, huh?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, she was very good at it."

"Gungnir," Naruto addressed his bracer, "how many people are in this room?"

[Four, boss.]

Hinata eeped and wove the handsigns for her Byakugan.

Naruto's grin widened. "You might as well come out, sensei."

The air _twisted_ and suddenly Kurenai was standing in front of them, looking impressed despite her scowl. "If I had been an enemy, I would have killed you the moment you asked that gem of yours if I was here," she told Naruto. "We clearly have a long way to go with subtlety training."

Naruko giggled. "You have no idea."

Kurenai turned her scowl to Naruko. "Your teammates managed to find me in seconds. You didn't even try. It is good to have teamwork, but it is bad to be dependent on it. If your teammates die, you need to keep going. Initiative training for you."

Although she had said nothing to attract attention, Kurenai rounded on Hinata next. "You know me best, yet Naruto figured it out. Deductive reasoning skills, young lady."

Kurenai looked over her team one more time and her scowl softened into a smile. "That said, you did much better than I would have thought," she said happily. "I was afraid your ninja skills had completely deteriorated over your year away. Now, as you know I am Kurenai Yuhi, your jonin instructor. You will be my first genin team, and I promise to do what I can to help you reach your goals. Now I know you know eachother pretty well, but I'm afraid I don't, so why don't we have a round of introduction. Naruto?"

"Sure! Um," Naruto hesitated, "what do you want to know?"

"Well the usual introduction is your name, your goals as a ninja, your likes and dislikes, that sort of thing. For you three, why don't we add your favorite jutsu or…what were they called?"

"Spells," Hinata supplied.

"Favorite spell, okay. And maybe an idea of what you did to earn your 'mage ranks.'"

Naruto nodded. "Naruto Uzumaki, the future Godaime Hokage," he announced proudly. "My goal is to protect everyone who is important to me. I like ramen, my friends," Hinata blushed to Kurenai's amusement, "and helping people. I don't…I don't like the thing I'm not sure if I should tell you about," he finished softly. "The thing Mizuki told me."

Kurenai's eyes widened slightly. "I know about it," she said.

Naruto nodded. "Okay then. I have terrible dreams that he was right. That someday the kyuubi is going to take me over and I won't be able to stop him."

Kurenai looked at Hinata and Naruko. "You know about this?"

"I was there when Mizuki told him," Hinata said softly.

"I'm his familiar," Naruko said.

Kurenai nodded slightly. Naruto having friends was a new idea, according to the Sandaime. That he had friends that accepted him while knowing he carried the demon fox was practically inconceivable.

"Anyway," Naruto said, visibly shaking off the dour mood, "my favorite jutsu is kage bunshin. My favorite spell is barrier wall. And I'm a B+ rank composite mage because I'm only a B rank aerial mage, but my kage bunshin counts as a 'rare skill.' That's about chunin, I guess, but I'm really focused on barriers and shields."

Kurenai blinked and absorbed that. If the scale was accurate, Naruto would be able to put up some impressive defensive jutsu. She turned to Hinata. "Hinata?"

Hinata studied the floor carefully and spoke so softly Kurenai leaned in unconsciously. "I'm Hinata. I want…I want to be stronger for…for…"

Kurenai savagely crushed the amused grin that threatened to break out at the shy girl's discomfort. A glance told her Naruko had no such restraint and Naruto was confused. _Clueless_, Kurenai decided.

Hinata managed to get going again without finishing her statement. "My favorite jutsu is the byakugan," she said without passion. It was certainly useful but it was so familiar to her that it was like asking what her favorite hand was. "My favorite spell is regenerate. I'm a B+ rank ground mage, because the juuken makes me more valuable on the ground than in the air."

Kurenai nodded. So Hinata had something like medical jutsu. She turned to Naruko, the only one she didn't know something of.

Naruko grinned. "I'm Naruko, although I suppose I'll start getting called Naruko Uzumaki. I'm here to keep Naruto out of trouble. I don't really have any jutsu, but I can pull off something you'd call a henge as easy as breathing. My favorite spell is chain bind. I'm a B rank familiar because I don't know that many spells yet, even though I generate mana by tapping the kyuubi."

Kurenai paled at that last. "What did you say?"

"Did I forget to mention that?" Naruko said with innocent sweetness and an evil grin. She was clearly enjoying this. "Idiot here didn't use a proper fox when he made me; I'm the kyuubi."


	5. Training

Chapter 5: Training

"You're the what?" Kurenai yelped. She immediately chastised herself. Jonin do not yelp. Of course, jonin don't get this close to destruction personified either.

Naruto shook his head. "That's not exactly what happened."

Hinata smiled slightly at Kurenai, her expression obviously worried. "Ano, maybe we should explain?"

"Please," Kurenai deadpanned.

"Er, right," Naruto said with a shaky laugh.

* * *

_This was after we'd been learning magic for a while. Nanoha was a great teacher but she had other duties, so we got passed around a lot, mostly between her friends. The jutsu that sent us to them made them think I would learn well under the man that taught Nanoha the basics of magic._

Naruto floated in the weightless room and looked around. "This is how you get stronger?" he asked dubiously.

A boy about his age with pale blonde hair and green eyes nodded from within a circle of books. "Uh huh. Teleportation magic is all about focus and multitasking. This book reading spell is a good exercise for that."

"So that's why you use a library to train in?" Naruto asked, looking around the aptly named Infinity Library.

"Well, sorta," Yuuno Scrya said with a hint of bashfulness. "But really, I'm the head librarian here. The library is barely organized, even though I've been working on it for years. So you're going to help me with that solid silhouette spell of yours."

"Kage bunshin," Naruto supplied.

"Right, that," Yuuno said. He gestured and a mighty pile of books rose to their level. "These books are the next batch to be sorted. You and I are going to meditate here and decide where they should go by using the reading spell."

"But I don't know the system," Naruto protested.

Yuuno grinned and added a book to the pile. "Start with that one, then. Once you decide where a book should go, use a 'bunshin' to put it there. Got it?"

"But…" Naruto protested, dreading the massive pile of books. This was like the boring classes at academy all over again! This wasn't fair!

"Naruto, all magic requires intense focus," Yuuno said sternly. "Gungnir will help, but if you ever want to cast spells on your own, you need to train your mind, not just your body."

Naruto bit his lip and nodded. "If this is what it takes, I'll do it. That's my nindo." He grabbed the top book like it was a venomous snake and ripped it open before it could bite him.

Yuuno smiled slightly at his mixed trepidation and determination. It was impressive, after a fashion. Naruto held his forearm bracer in one hand. "Gungnir, set up!"

[On it, boss! Set up. Device mode.] The orange gem on the bracer transformed itself into the increasingly familiar black spear-like staff.

Naruto held the staff up in one hand and focused. "Kage bunshin no jutsu," he ground out, not making handseals.

Gungnir molded the chakra Naruto released, its headpiece flashing as a strange cross-shaped emblem appeared on its surface, an abstraction of the handseal Naruto was unable to provide himself. [Shadow clone,] the device announced. Puffs of chakra smoke exploded in midair, creating a quartet of spare Narutos.

Yuuno nodded to himself. That was a small number for Naruto, but each clone had its own Gungnir. That was a serious drain on the device's own ability to multitask. It wouldn't be able to help Naruto with his speed reading as well. It looked like the boy was really taking this seriously.

Yuuno adopted a cross legged position, as did Naruto. A green circle appeared under Yuuno, two squares of opposing rotations inside. The Midchildan circle. At the same time an orange circle appeared under Naruto, carrying the seven pointed star that denoted the as yet unnamed style unique to Naruto and Hinata.

The instructional book Yuuno gave Naruto was the first to levitate off the pile. It hovered gently for a moment and drifted over to Naruto. As the spell took firm hold, it opened and was still.

Yuuno smiled. That's exactly what was supposed to happen. The pile wasn't as random as it looked – a few underlibrarians had already sorted out anything dangerous or classified. He didn't have to worry about Naruto overreaching. It was a constant concern with the boy, ever since they learned his multiple shadow clone spell was forbidden, and he had used it mere minutes after first reading about it. To say nothing of the teleportation spell that brought the two of them to Nanoha. No, Naruto's access to knowledge was being closely watched.

But he had work to do as well. A full dozen books floated off the pile to him, and he read over them quickly as they entered the reading spell's reach. Once he knew where they went, he gathered them together, ended the spell, and flew off. It was always the slowest part of the job, actually putting the books where they belonged. Trying to do it by magic in a place this big was crazy if you didn't have Nanoha class reserves.

Naruto got the hang of sorting the books fairly quickly, as Yuuno had hoped. With his shadow clones, the moment Naruto was finished with a book he'd telepathically tell a clone where to take it. It would have made him extremely efficient…except he could only handle two books at a time. They were going at a snail's pace by Yuuno's standards.

After a few hours, Naruto was up to four books, but he got them mixed up a lot. He had tried to cheat using shadow clones, but Yuuno had put a stop to that. "That's a good way to multitask when you need to," he admitted, "but you need these skills on your own, without using a spell to make the job easier."

* * *

"He never did get above four books," Naruko commented.

"Hey, I learn better by doing," Naruto protested. "I never had no problems casting spells."

"While the idea that you can almost read four books at once is interesting, Naruto," Kurenai interrupted, "it doesn't explain anything."

"No, but one of the books I found does," Naruto said.

"An instruction guide on making familiars," Naruko explained.

"Oh no," Kurenai said.

* * *

The room was cathedral-like in its high ceilings and open spaces. Crystal pillars supported the distant roof, arranged at the points of a Mid-Childan circle etched into the stone floor and filled with gold. It was one of dozens of identical spell-rooms scattered among the TSAB compound. They were something of an unofficial secret – a matter of public record buried deep in bureaucracy where only an invited mage or a glorified file clerk could find one. In his time at the Library, Naruto had learned of three. This one was the easiest to get to without flying – Naruto's control in the air was still shaky.

Naruto called Gungnir forth and planted him point down in the center of the circle. The book was clear on what he had to do and say. "Begin!"

[On it, boss!] Gungnir yelled back. Orange power flooded the room and the circle. Designed to aid in a multitude of rituals, it accepted the spell easily and twisted into the circle of chakra-system magic. Even that familiar mandala was soon only a part of the most complex magic circle Naruto had ever seen.

[Believe it!] Gungnir called. That was the signal. Naruto shucked his shirt, placed one hand on his belly, and concentrated on the chakra within him.

* * *

Naruto found himself in a sewer, facing the cage of the kyuubi. "**What?**" the beast inside rumbled. "**How are you here?**"

Naruto felt magic crackling around him. The spell was the only thing allowing this conversation. Naruto didn't think about it much. He had a ritual to complete. "Displaced spirit in my charge, I name you familiar!" he shouted at the kyuubi.

"**What does that matter to me, whelp?**"

"I set forth the contract. I the master to you the servant. Support, power, and life I offer. Obedience I demand."

"**You will set me free of this place?**" the evil beast asked. "**In exchange for…obedience?**"

"I set forth the contract," Naruto repeated.

The kyuubi laughed cruelly. He didn't know what was going on, but that strange chakra the boy had was no match for his full power. Once he was free he would merely kill the child. "**Foolish boy, I accept your terms!**"

The magic around Naruto swelled and shot forward to engulf the kyuubi.

* * *

Naruto shrugged to Kurenai. "Maybe if he hadn't tried to overpower my spell I would have gotten him all out of me. Or maybe just a bigger part. As it was, the spell settled on one of his tails and bored a hole in the rock wall of his cage. Then I woke up."

Kurenai was staring at Naruto. A specialty in genjutsu didn't quite translate into deciphering mental landscapes, but that didn't take much to puzzle out. The familiar spell bypassed the seal and created a new outlet for the kyuubi. "Then what happened?"

* * *

Naruto sat up and held his head. "Urgh. What hit me?"

"I think I did, sorta."

"Oh, don't do that again…" Naruto's eyes snapped open. "It worked! …why are you a girl?"

* * *

Naruko snorted at that memory. "A few TSAB flunkies found us only minutes later and the knucklehead told them what he did. They were pissed, but it's not like Naruto did anything _wrong_, just _stupid_, so they went about studying me. Wasn't fun. They're not sure why I'm a girl, or why I look so much like Naruto, but they mapped out the magic of my body pretty good. The spell that created me taps the kyuubi's power, but it only siphons mana. The physical energy in the chakra is tied up keeping my body whole."

Kurenai frowned. "Your body is made of chakra? Like a shadow clone?"

"It's similar," Naruko agreed. "I don't really understand all the theory behind it. Bottom line is I have a lot of mana available to me, but if I try to use chakra I get sick."

Kurenai nodded slowly as she processed that. "So you can't really use chakra at all?" she asked.

Naruko shook her head. "Not unless the spell that created me is changed…and then I probably wouldn't be _me_ anymore."

Kurenai let out a breath. "That's…interesting." She had no idea what word would fit better, really. "Well it will be interesting to see how you do in the genin test."

That got their attention. "Test?" Hinata asked.

Kurenai nodded. "You managed to vanish right between graduating from the academy and becoming genin. To make sure you can handle being ninja, I get to put you through your paces. At least one of you will fail and be sent back to the academy."

"Then I guess I'm going back," Naruto said firmly.

Kurenai didn't know much about Naruto personally, but everyone knew he dreamed of being Hokage. He had announced it himself not ten minutes ago. "What?" she asked. "You'd abandon your dreams that easily?"

Naruto met her gaze with a conviction few ninja could match. "I stand by my friends," he said. "If you gotta send someone back, you're sending me."

"I'm not leaving Naruto behind," Hinata added quickly. She didn't meet Kurenai's gaze. Kurenai _did_ know Hinata fairly well, so just standing up for her long-time crush was…astonishing. "He's earned being a genin, not me."

Naruko shrugged. "It's kinda my duty to make sure Naruto gets ahead. I'll fail the test. You two do your best to pass it."

Kurenai was stunned. Some small part of her noted that, while they might need technique and tactic training, they were so connected to eachother that a teamwork test was a ridiculous waste of time.

The rest of her was utterly shocked at just how close they were. Most ninja never got that close to anyone. Those that did always ended in tragedy. The inherent dangers of their lives made any kind of closeness risky. This self-sacrificing extreme could lead them all to ruin…

…or it could make them the best ninja seen in a generation. Konoha valued teamwork as an ideal for a reason. The strength of bonds with others made ninja more powerful. If she was staring at such a bind, so young and fully formed already…what would they be like three years from now?

But first, they did need to actually take a test. "I'm afraid you can't just decide who fails," Kurenai said, knowing they had all passed already. "Tomorrow, training ground four, be ready to go all out."

There were a few nervous looks at that, and Kurenai left them feeling satisfied. It would be good to see what they could really do.

"Why is there ominous thunder?" she asked, looking up at the clear sky. That was really weird.

* * *

The freshly minted Team Eight was not content to call it a day, however. As soon as they realized they had nearly a whole day off duty, they shared a look with eachother and made for the Hokage tower.

The genin on desk duty looked up with mild interest as Konoha's latest classified mystery walked up to him. "Can I help you?"

Naruto offered a grin. "Our jonin-sensei let us go for the day," he explained.

The desk jockey blinked. "Um, enjoy your day off?" he tried. Why were they telling him this?

Naruto grinned wider. There was only one way a student of Nanoha could react to a free day before a test. Hinata shuffled forward, lending the weight of her clan to their request. "We'd like to use a training ground," she said.

The genin blinked. Genin teams didn't usually register training grounds themselves, their jonin did. Half the time rookie teams had to be dragged to practice kicking and screaming. And a team that hadn't even passed the teamwork test? Completely unheard of.

Unheard of, but well within their rights. Chalking it up to another mystery of the trio, the genin consulted his lists. "I can give you ground seven for…three hours," he offered. "Another team has it reserved after that."

Naruto looked to the girls. "Three hours should be enough," he supposed.

Naruko thought that over. "Two for training, one for damage control?"

Hinata blushed slightly and ducked her head. "Gomen."

Naruto grinned and turned to the confused genin. "We'll take it."

* * *

Jonin are eccentric. Part of it is in the job description, part of it is the result of constant kill-or-be-killed stress, but most of it has to do with the personality it takes to thrive as a ninja. It's not exactly a profession that appeals to stable and well-adjusted individuals. Few ninja exemplify this eccentricity like Might Guy.

"Come on!" he bellowed at his genin. "Is that all the youth you have?"

"No, Guy-sensei!" the young Rock Lee bellowed. Guy Junior in everything but name, those that knew of Lee often needed a few hours with a sake bottle to accept the horrible idea _two of them_. No one could deny the two were powerful ninja in their respective ranks…almost no one.

"It is not my fate to run around with weighted training packs," Neji growled between pants. "Such useless exercise is fit for those fated failures like Lee."

Lee scowled at his arrogant teammate but said nothing. He would get Neji's respect with action, not words.

Guy frowned, but also said nothing. Neji fueled Lee's fires of youth, and he was on hand to make sure Lee did not consume himself in the blaze. Meanwhile Lee's growth forced Neji to improve as well. It was not a healthy relationship, but it was beneficial.

Tenten glared at Neji through her own pants. "Neji! Show your teammate more respect!"

Neji snorted.

Guy sighed. "We're done running for today. We'll be doing some sparring on training ground seven, then you're done for the day." He pointed at the training ground, just behind a row of trees.

Purple light flashed, followed by an explosion, and a cloud of dust lazily filtered through the trees.

Guy's face paled a moment, then resolved as a second explosion shook the air. "Drop the packs! Into the trees! Recon, be ready to rescue or engage!"

The genin, faces equally serious, vanished into the trees without a word.

At least, until they saw what was going on.

Hinata was just hanging in the air, at least ten feet up, holding the strange staff called Gentle Arc. On the ground, Naruto held his own staff, standing firmly on the only patch of unbroken ground for at least a dozen meters. Naruko was off to the side, apparently unconcerned.

The genin's outfits were particularly strange. Hinata wore tight lavender uniform, clearly designed for freedom of movement and only slightly more modest than Guy and Lee's jumpsuits. The effect of the revealing outfit was utterly destroyed by the Konoha-green and gray cloak she wore over it, completely covering her when she didn't move and still doing a good job of concealing her upper body even with acrobatics. The cloak used her headband as a clasp.

Naruto's outfit was as loud as the ninja. Brilliant orange and baggy from neck to ankle, it had much the same color scheme he always wore, with the most notable difference being that it was stiff and rigid in places, like it had incorporated a flak jacket under the bright orange material. He wore over that a longcoat in Konoha-green that sufficiently deadened the impact of his orange outfit that he looked a bit more like a proper ninja wearing it. Konoha's leaf was emblazoned on the back in a metallic, highly reflective orange material. The shoulders were a rich, calm blue and the hem had a red flame pattern around his knees.

Naruko was, oddly, dressed as she usually was…which was barely at all. Shorts, shoes, halter, choker…that was it. While a scandalous fashion in most situations, here she anchored the otherworldly scene with her own version of normality.

Hinata held her staff forward. Countless dots of purple light formed around and before her. [Shuriken storm,] the staff reported.

Naruto pulled Gungnir in front of him like a shield and an orange mandala appeared before him. He held his free hand to his shoulder and orange bands of energy spun around his forearm and wrist. [Kunai shooter,] his staff countered. Naruto's hand flexed and an orange kunai materialized in his grip.

"Fire!" Hinata called out in her soft, but unusually powerful voice. She swung Gentle Arc to point at Naruto and the many points of light resolved into shuriken, which streaked towards Naruto.

Naruto threw his kunai and gripped Gungnir in both hands. "Now, Gungnir!" The kunai passed through the seven pointed star-circle and split into three kunai, each taking a different path through the oncoming projectiles.

[Barrier wall.]

The orange kunai arced through the air, and they deflected many of the smaller shuriken from their path. Hinata's massive attack was too much for the three kunai to handle, however, and Naruto's position vanished in plumes of smoke and flashes of light.

Then the kunai reached Hinata and exploded.

Guy had seen more impressive jutsu…but not many. And they were all from jonin or better. He scanned the sky for a falling Hinata and wondered why Naruko was cheering over the two ninjas' mutual annihilation.

Tenten stared at the techniques, jaw hanging in the wind. She knew she could pull off a similar assault, but with more prep time and actual weapons, not chakra…things.

Lee was impressed, but he was too busy coming up with counters for a _flying_ opponent to think much on the techniques.

Neji activated his byakugan and nearly fell out of the tree. The absence of chakra hanging in the air surprised him, but that was nothing to the state of the two combatants.

The smoke cleared, revealing Naruto standing behind a fuzzy orange wall of power. The wall covered him and a full three meters in every direction. Everything in the shadow of the barrier was unscathed, Naruto included, while around him the ground was even more torn up than before.

The smoke in the air also cleared, leaving Hinata with a smaller, lavender dome protecting her. [Defenser,] her staff said.

Naruto grinned up at Hinata and both shields fell. "That was a good exchange, Hinata. Fate would be proud."

The assembled members of Team Guy twitched. Tenten in particular experienced horror at the idea of another fate-loving Hyuuga in the immediate area.

Hinata blushed and floated down to the ground. "Thank you," she said softly. "Err, we should probably clean up. How much time do we have left?"

Naruto glanced at his staff and paled. "We shoulda been out of here ten minutes ago!"

"Eep!" Hinata squeaked. "But, we can't leave the grounds like this!"

"We'll never finish in time," Naruko said nervously, running over. "I say we get out now before we get in trouble!"

"Right!" Naruto said. The Uzumaki's took off at high speed…in the air.

Hinata looked around, conflicted, before she too flew off.

Team Guy exited the shadows of trees and looked at eachother. "What was that?" Tenten asked nervously.

Guy shook his head and grinned. "That, Tenten, was youth!"


	6. Life as a Ninja

Chapter 6: Life as a Ninja

Tora's little heart was pounding in her chest. The minions of The Great Evil were far more cunning than they had ever been before.

Last year, she had barely escaped from a strange-eyed boy when a green beast had snagged her neck and declared her most youthful, but lacking in training. After that there was some argument about fate that she didn't understand, but the green-clad boy with scary eyebrows was right. And so Tora had trained. When she could not try to escape, she ran. When she could not run, she hid. When she could not hide, she attacked. Now she was ready.

But the Fat One had shown insight beneath her slovenly flesh and hired demons from at least seven different hells to foil Tora's efforts!

It started innocently enough. There was a leaky water pipe in an alley she liked to drink from. She was washing down a mousey when a tiny ball zoomed by. Tora had no idea what to make of it, which meant either run or attack. The ball stopped and flew back towards Tora.

She couldn't outrun this strange creature. ATTACK!

Tora lunged at the ball and raked it with her hindclaws as she landed…WHAT!? The ball puffed into smoke as Tora's claws scratched it, and the cat barely had time to swing her paws under her to land on the ground. She was off like a shot. Puffs of smoke meant the shinobi of the Great Evil were at paw.

Tora had several escape routes and hidey holes to choose from. Two years ago, she made the mistake of picking the furthest. Last year she picked the closest. This time she picked the closest with a bolt hole. A crack in a building offered access to its basement, but no human could follow. And from the crack she could smell exactly what she was up against.

Yes, the Evil was cunning this year. The first scent was unfamiliar, and she saw a boy in orange with a metal stick. He was almost unworthy of her attention, but she once made that assumption of the Green Beast. Never again.

He did something very strange which created a glowing diagram, and then others were with him. The older woman Tora dismissed instantly; the Fat One never hired over a certain age for some reason. The other two would be troublesome.

A shy girl who smelled as if a sister to the strange-eyed boy of the past year, the decoy that lured Tora into the true threat of the green-clad boy. She would be formidable, because she could not be ignored but to focus on her would doom Tora.

The other girl smelled like a fox, and with a flash of light she looked like one, too. Tora's blood ran cold. Only a handful of her boltholes were too small for the fox! She would have to risk climbing to lose her. Foxes were like dogs, right? They couldn't climb things.

All three smelled like power, although the fox radiated it like the sun. Tora didn't wait; she turned into the basement and ran for the escape on the far side.

A building now between her and her pursuers, Tora latched onto the wall and climbed.

Mistake! Another ball flew by, bigger and orange colored. It poofed and suddenly the orange-clad ninja boy was there, swiping at her and yelling! Tora had only moments before the rest of the Fat One's minions could arrive. This time, she ran. She jumped from the wall, onto the blonde head, and then off that to the street below. This was a main road. That was bad; main roads allowed these Others to make good time.

Unless she distracted them. A glance behind her was shocking; the street was flooded with orange-clad ninja! But this could turn to her advantage!

It all played out in her mind's eye. She would lunge under that cart. The ninja would plow into it, some of them anyway. Two more carts provided similar opportunities. Then it was the ramen stand, the wagon full of cabbages, and then over the fence into the women's bath. What ninja were left to chase her would be chased by enraged women in turn. Then it was simply a matter of finding a saxophone for accompaniment and she was guaranteed to escape. The plan was perfect.

The plan fell apart after she dodged under the first cart and ran into the fox. The army behind her turned into balls of light and shot over and around the cart harmlessly. And then a feminine hand had her scruff and she was hauled out.

It was the strange eyed girl. She held Tora gently and stroked her back. Tora blinked. This was nice. Maybe they weren't demons after all.

An hour later She Who Hugs Too Hard was crushing Tora once again, and she meowed an oath of VENGENCE to the traitorous she-ninja who had brought her guard down so easily!

Hinata stared at the departing Tora and looked to Naruto. "I wonder if maybe some pets deserve to escape?" she whispered.

Naruto grimaced at the _large_ woman leaving with her doomed cat. "Eh heh. Maybe next time we should be less awesome and give her a chance?"

A cough from Iruka drew the team's attention from the Daimyo's wife to the mission board, predominantly Iruka and Sarutobi. Iruka waved a sheaf of papers at them. "According to this, an invasion from Iwa was reported at least eight times in the five minutes it took you three to catch a cat." He glanced at the papers again. "Wait, this is a report of Kumo invading, not Iwa." He gave a look at Kurenai, a look that asked "what kind of team have you assembled here?"

Kurenai returned an identical expression. She had a lot of practice with that look. She'd seen it in her mirror every day since meeting her team.

"I believe one was a report from Suna," Sarutobi said, grinning around his pipe. "It's safe to say that whatever jutsu was used caused more confusion than would normally be considered acceptable."

Naruto pointed accusingly. "That's because we're too awesome for D-ranks, dattebayo!" he shouted, frustration rolling off him in almost visible waves. "This has been the lamest week ever, dattebayo! And that includes the time Sasuke beat me every day, dattebayo! You gotta give us a real mission, jiji!"

Iruka slammed his hands down, pushing himself out of his chair dramatically enough to get Naruto's attention. "Naruto!" he snapped. "Show some respect to your Hokage! You are genin of Konohagakure, and you are getting missions appropriate to genin of Konohagakure!"

"But we don't have _skills_ appropriate to genin of Kohona," Naruko said, showing no concern at all about the raging schoolteacher. Naruto held him in high regard, and Naruko would respect that, but she saw how he treated Naruto and Hinata in the here and now. "We're not academy students, either," she said pointedly.

Kurenai winced at Naruko's verbal riposte. Subtlety lessons. Lots of subtlety lessons. Mages did not do subtle, apparently. Of course, neither did Naruto. Okay, so subtlety was a lost cause for two thirds of her team, she could still save Hinata. Maybe.

Naruto missed the dig against Iruka and nodded emphatically. "Catching pets, painting fences, walking dogs, you had us cleaning a damn sewer drain one day! The only interesting thing we've done was Kurenai-sensei's teamwork test!"

Kurenai grinned. That had been an interesting one. Hide three objectives in a forest, first two to find and rescue, destroy, or capture their target would "pass." Needless to say, Team Eight had worked together from the start and displayed enough jutsu that she was already thinking of putting them up for Chunin when the exam came around. Weird jutsu, too. She'd never seen ferrets used as artillery before.

Sarutobi allowed a dry chuckle. "As it so happens, we do have a C-rank mission available," he said. Naruto's complaints to the side, it was rare for any genin team to go on _too_ many D-ranks and while it was a little early as far as Konoha was concerned, Team Eight had been working together for over a year from their own perspective. They were ready.

"We'll take it, dattebayo!" Naruto said, jumping to his feet.

Hinata nodded fractionally, offering a small smile but saying nothing.

Naruko crossed her arms and just looked smug.

Kurenai shook her head helplessly and smiled at Sarutobi. "We will accept the mission, Hokage-sama," she said casually.

Sarutobi nodded and handed over the mission scroll. "Civilian escort and bodyguard," he summarized. "The client is from Wave. He's building a trade route to the Land of Fire and is worried about bandits."

"Simple enough," Kurenai said, glancing over the scroll and the details. "At civilian speeds that should take us two days. You three should prepare for a week away from the village."

"Yes!" Naruto crowed, pumping his fist. "Finally something exciting!"

"That brat's supposed to guard me?" Everyone turned to see a door sliding open and an old man with bleary eyes and a suspicious bottle in one hand glaring at the ninja. "He looks like an idiot."

"He is," Naruko said quickly, "but only Hinata and I get to call him that."

Hinata blushed and twiddled her fingers. "Naruto isn't," she protested softly.

"I take it you're the client," Kurenai said politely, glancing back at her mission scroll. "Tazuna, yes?"

The man didn't answer and instead looked to the other genin. "A little girl," he said about Hinata, "and a cosplay brat?"

Naruto and Naruko stomped their feet in unison and pointed at Tazuna, their faces matching expressions of outrage. "Who do you think you're calling a brat!" they shouted together. "I'll show you how awesome we can be!"

"Dattebayo!" Naruto finished.

"Dattebane!" Naruko said instead.

Sarutobi and Iruka watched this display with undisguised amusement, while Kurenai maintained a professional stance. It wouldn't do to yell at a client, even if he was being rude to her team.

"Che," Tazuna snorted. He looked away and his fingers stroked his bottle. "I guess you'll have to do then," he muttered.

Kurenai looked to her team. The Uzumakis were dangerously close to losing it and Hinata had managed to shrink a couple inches. "Be at the gates in two hours," she instructed sharply.

Naruto's outrage vanished in favor of a confidant grin. Naruko's matching expression had a feral edge to it. Hinata straightened out of her slouch and nodded with a quiet "Un," of agreement. The ninja scattered only a moment later.

Kurenai looked back to Tazuna and frowned. "Why are you antagonizing my team?" she asked.

Tazuna took a pull from his bottle. "It a crime to be a grouchy old man?"

Kurenai held his gaze a moment and shrugged. "Okay then. I need to grab some supplies out of my apartment. I will be back and meet you outside the tower in ten minutes. Is that acceptable?"

Tazuna raised an eyebrow. "I thought you told the kids two hours."

Kurenai nodded. "They may need the extra time to make sure they're prepared. I will guard you alone until that time."

"Whatever," Tazuna grumbled. His lips twitched. "Thanks."

* * *

Naruto tore through his apartment like a whirlwind. "Ah…hmmm…maybe?"

Naruko twitched. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"I have to make sure I have everything I need for the mission!" Naruto enthused, studying a pair of boxers and debating its merits.

Naruko scowled. "You've gone on dozens of missions that could last a week! Calm down!"

"But never as a ninja, dattebayo!" Naruto said, pumping a fist.

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

* * *

"You have your first C-rank mission."

Hinata spun quickly, clutching her panties to her chest. She had not expected her father to walk in on her while she was packing up! Heat rushed to her cheeks as she realized she was displaying her choice of undergarment to her father. Maybe if she didn't mention it? "Y-y-yes," she whimpered.

Hiashi quickly decided that to call attention to Hinata's embarrassment, even by apologizing, would only embarrass her more. "You will represent the Hyuuga on this mission. Take pride in this, and do honor to our name."

Hinata looked at the floor. "I…I will try, father."

Hiashi kept his impassive face as he walked off. His little girl was growing up and honoring the clan.

Hinata turned back to the scroll she was sealing her clothes in and trembled. The clan was watching her…again…

* * *

Kurenai watched in quiet amusement as her genin gathered. Naruto was bouncing with energy, Naruko was shaking her head at his antics, and Hinata just shuffled along like she hoped no one would notice her.

Naruto flung an arm over Hinata's shoulders and gestured expansively with his other. "C'mon, Hinata! Our first decent mission!"

"Y…yes," Hinata said weakly.

Tazuna glared at Naruto. "Che. You sure you're a ninja?"

"I gave up convincing him of that long ago," Naruko said. "He really should just focus on being a mage."

"Mage?" Tazuna asked.

"Village secret," Kurenai said quickly, glaring at Naruko. "That's enough out of you, Naruko."

Naruko's ears drooped and she nodded. "Sorry, sensei."

"Good," Kurenai said brightly. She clapped once. "Naruto, why don't you take point? Naruko on close guard. Hinata, you should cover the flanks. I'll be the rear guard." That would put her in position to watch over the genin and the client.

Kurenai nodded in satisfaction as her team put themselves in position. Naruto walked a good five feet ahead of Tazuna, loudly chatting about everything that passed through his orange brain. Hinata was two feet behind and a pace to the right, her eyes swinging to the left every third step. It wasn't the most subtle surveillance, but she was just a genin after all. Naruko took position next to tazuna, half a pace to the left. And Kurenai herself was two feet back, trusting in the senses and intuition built over a lifetime as a jonin.

Which is how she knew they were about to come under attack. Chunin, two of them. Maybe three, but that would be a bit much. A ninja aattack pushed this mission into B-rank already, so they really should turn around afterwards. That would just be dangerous right now, though. Provoking them might…

"Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked. "Is there a jutsu for hiding in a puddle?"

…crap. Nothing for it. Kurenai tossed some senbon at the puddle and ran through her handsigns, fast and sloppy. She wasn't going to make it in time.

Two ninja launched themselves from the puddle, heavy metal gauntlets and armor disguising their faces, a spiked chain connecting their wrists. That chain tore through Kurenai like she wasn't even there, her last breath a gasp of shock.

Naruto made an inarticulate battle cry, a wordless howl of rage grief and terror all wrapped into a single yell as he drew forth Gungnir and activated his barrier jacket. "Spear form!" he snapped.

The black, spade-headed staff glowed orange and shifted, gaining half a meter in length. A third of that was the headpiece, which elongated and sharpened to a wicked-looking point. "Naginata blade!" the weapon announced, orange chakra building up along the edges of the spearhead.

Naruto hurled himself at the chunin like orange-clad vengeance. He held the spear low and pulled it up as he passed between them, the chakra-infused blade slicing through their chain like it wasn't even there. Naruto pulled the spear up and over his head, rotating it through his hands to bring the blade back at the neck of the ninja to his left. That ninja jumped away long before the blade reached him, but the ninja to Naruto's right missed that the blunt end of the spear was coming up behind him. The staff hooked around behind his neck and Naruto used his weight to leverage the ninja down to the ground.

The standing ninja landed several feet away, gaping at the genin that was holding down his partner. "Why you," he growled out.

"Juuken."

The ninja never had a chance to react. Hinata sealed off his chakra with four strikes to the back, paralyzing his arms and legs before the thought to dodge had even entered his mind. _Impossible,_ he thought. _She'd have gored her hands on poison spikes to hit like that_. He turned as he fell to his knees and then his side, and saw Hinata in her barrier jacket, hands covered in soft gloves that couldn't possibly have been armored, and yet they had clearly crumpled the poisoned spikes of his own armor.

"Chain bind," Naruko called softly. She stood next to Tazuna in a relaxed pose, a circle of mana under her feet, red chains shooting out of it to wrap both ninja. Naruto jumped away from his prisoner when it was clear that he wasn't moving until Naruko ran out of mana. Another band of mana pulled from the chains on each to gag the two of them.

The Uzumaki silently looked to Kurenai's corpse and startled as it dissolved into leaves. An unseen, unfelt wind scattered them in a blinding swirl which Kurenai calmly walked out of. "Very impressive," she said.

"Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto gaped.

"Genjutsu," Kurenai explained.

"You used it on all of us?" Naruko asked. "You made use think you were dead? Why?"

Kurenai nodded, her face serious. "I haven't seen you when you really thought you were in danger. You did very well, each of you." Her lips quirked. "Although Hinata saw through it right away."

Hinata blushed. "You were holding position just behind Tazuna while making sure you had a clear line to run to Naruto or myself when we fought."

"Very good," Kurenai praised.

"This is how you train ninja?" Tazuna gaped.

Kurenai grimaced slightly. "It's not exactly my idea of a good teaching method, but you work with what you have. When Hinata _let_ the enemy know we were on to them, my plans for dealing with them quietly fell through."

Hinata blushed more heavily and twiddled her fingers. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Eh, doing it noisy worked," Naruto said with a shrug.

Kurenai nodded. "You are still genin," she reminded them. "In the ninja world, duplicity is everywhere. For example." She turned to Tazuna and let her red eyes settle in his sight. "Why is Hidden Mist after you?"

Tazuna felt his mouth go dry. "What do you mean?"

"Kirigakure. One of the major ninja villages. That's there mark," Kurenai pointed to the enemy headbands. "They don't come out this far without business. This isn't a C-ranked mission."

Tazuna sighed. "No, it probably isn't," he agreed. "I can't afford to pay for a higher ranked mission."

"So you lied about the dangers we are looking at," Kurenai said. It wasn't a question.

Tazuna nodded anyway. "Yes."

"You're going to tell us everything," Kurenai said.

"Ne, are we going to have to give up the mission?" Naruto asked.

Naruko scowled. "No way am I going back to walking dogs. I don't care if this goes all the way to S-class!"

Kurenai sighed. "Let's find out what we're up against, then decide. Now. Who wants to share?" She turned to one of the bound Kiri ninjas. "You. You want to share," she decided.

The ninja was too tightly bound even to shake his head, but the way his eyes widened made it clear that he didn't really want to share _anything_.

* * *

"…and Zabuza-sama's big sword can repair itself by stabbing people," the ninja babbled.

"Anything else?" Kurenai asked sweetly.

"…"

"Yeeesssss?" Kurenai purred.

"…my real name is Joe. I didn't think it was badass enough for me to be a ninja."

"Is it just me, or is our sensei kinda creepy?" Naruko asked.

"And who is this Anko she said she learned it from?" Naruto added.

* * *

Author's Note:

Well, it's been a while, but here's the continuation. And, quite possibly, Gungnir will end here. Simply put, I'm not feeling this cross like I was when I started. I like my other stories better. But, I wanted to get some of these scenes out there rather than just let the story die off completely.

Maybe I'll pick her up again, but I wouldn't hold your breath or anything. I'm a lot more likely to revamp one of my other ideas for strange things to do to Naruto instead.


End file.
